Hamilton expects title race to go 'to the wire'published at 18:41 BST 22 October 2017
Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer in Austin
Image source, EPAA 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.”
