Lewis Hamilton insists he wants to win or lose this year’s Formula 1 title “the right way” and not through an on-track collision.
The fight between Hamilton and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen has given F1 one of its closest championship battles in recent times, with just 12 points separating both drivers heading into the final five races.
But it hasn’t always been a clean duel, with the pair having collided on two occasions this season at Silverstone and Monza.
It has led to comparisons being drawn with the rivalry between Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost in 1989 and 1990, when the drivers’ title was settled through a crash between them in both years.
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said in a interview with British tabloid newspaper the Daily Mail published last weekend that should the championship go to the final round, “whoever is in front is absolutely going to try to do the same as in the Senna/Prost years”.
In Thursday’s FIA press conference ahead of this weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix, Wolff’s comments were put to Hamilton, but the seven-time world champion was clear he would not defer to Senna/Prost-like tactics to win a record-breaking eighth world title.
“I haven’t read what Toto has said, but I highly doubt that he would insinuate that would ever be the case,” Hamilton said, as quoted by Motorsport.com. “We’ve never won a championship in that way. I have never won a championship in that way, and we’d never want to. So that’s from my perspective and my point of view.
“I’m here to win in the right way, and that’s through sheer skill and determination and hard work.”
Acknowledging how he and Verstappen had raced “hard all year”, Hamilton reiterated his desire to make it a fair fight during the remaining races.
“You know how I’ve won my championships in the past,” Hamilton said. “I always want to win it the right way, and if you’re going to lose it, you lose it the right way also, with dignity and knowing you’ve given it your all and you’ve done things the right way, and you’ve worked as hard as you could.
“That’s all you can do, is give it your all and work as hard as you can with your team. If it doesn’t work out, then you live to fight another day.”
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