Hamilton not giving up on 2016 F1 title
After taking his seventh victory of the seventh of the season at the US Grand Prix, despite the races left quickly disappearing, Lewis Hamilton isn’t planning to give up yet.
Having claimed back seven points on his teammate and title rival Nico Rosberg in Austin and clinched his 50th career victory, the gap is down to 26 points.
However, the championship is still out of his hands and needs bad luck to strike Rosberg in the final three races if he has hope of making that gap drastically smaller.
The championship is now up for grabs for the first time this season in Mexico due to the nature of the gap between the two Mercedes drivers. If Hamilton were to have a non-score finish or DNF and Rosberg was to win, The German would take his first world title as the gap would be 51 points with two races to go.
“It was great to finally get that 50th win after a couple of tough weekends,” Hamilton said. “I’ve just continued to keep a positive frame of mind, avoid dwelling on the past, work and train hard and I knew eventually the result would come.
“The moment you give up is the moment you lose. I’ve never been one to give up and I don’t plan on starting now.”
While Rosberg hasn’t had to endure the reliability concerns that Hamilton has this season, the Mercedes team have proved in this hybrid era that while their package is extremely fast, it is also very fragile too.
There is ever the possibility that a failure could just creep into Rosberg’s side of the garage despite however lucky he has been to avoid them so far.
Last year’s Mexican Grand Prix saw a close race between both Mercedes drivers with Rosberg edging Hamilton out, but the three-time world champion wants to go on better this year,
“Next up it’s Mexico, which was a great experience last time out. It’s crazy how slippery the circuit is with the altitude giving you so little downforce from the car,” the Briton added.
“It’s a big challenge, so even though last year’s race was a bit frustrating for me, I actually had a lot of fun out there. I’m looking forward to giving it another go and hopefully going one better this time.
“On top of that, it has to be one of the best crowds I’ve ever seen. There are so many people with so much energy and excitement for the sport in Mexico.”