Hamilton expects title race to go 'to the wire'published at 18:41 British Summer Time 22 October 2017
Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer in Austin
A win for Lewis Hamilton with Sebastian Vettel lower than fifth would make the Mercedes driver a four-time world champion. But what do the two title contenders think of their situation?
Hamilton says: “It’s a bit like a game of chess. Obviously right now it’s check but there’s still a long long way to go. There’s still a hundred points available. Sebastian and his team are going to be working as hard as they can, as are we. Who knows?
"It’s going to go to the wire I still think. In the next four races, I think they are going to give it a great shot and I’m going to do my utmost to try and defend and not only defend but really maximise and win these races. I want to win these races, that’s what I’m working towards and naturally, in winning races, points come and championships are won so that’s what I’m here to do.”
Vettel added: “It’s pretty straightforward. We have to win and then we see what happens. Obviously we are not in the position that we would like to be but still we have a chance so we go for that and it’s pretty straightforward.
"We have the car, we had the car to win the last three races, didn’t happen, so I don’t see why the next four races we shouldn’t have the package to win.”