20/10/2016
NEWS STORY
Lewis Hamilton insists that were he to lose the title to teammate Nico Rosberg he would take it like a man.
With the world championship pendulum now having swung back in Nico Rosberg's favour, the German heads into the United States Grand prix weekend with a 33 point advantage.
Though there are four races remaining, bearing in mind his poor reliability record this year, his failure to convert pole positions into wins and teammate Rosberg's growing self-belief, there is a feeling that perhaps the Briton has blown his chance of a third successive title.
The rivalry with Rosberg goes back to their early teens when the two would race in karts, and with this in mind, and the fact that he has often beaten the German, Hamilton was asked today how he would handle losing the title to his teammate.
"I'd try to take it like a man," he told reporters. "It is... you can't win them all. Look at all the world championships in the past who've won championships and lost championships, it is part of the game.
"I am in the position right now where there are still a lot of points available," he continued, "so I'm going to give it everything I've got and still have the belief that anything is possible - but then I'll move on. Once it's decided and it happens, all I can do about it is shape the future, which is the next year. So, life will move on, we'll go into next season and hopefully come back stronger.
"We've always been having close races, close battles," he continued, referring to the long standing rivalry with Rosberg. "I think in all fairness to all of us here, if all things were equal in whatever our scenarios are, there would be a certain result.
"Obviously this year it's obviously been a little bit different in terms of how our performances have been, particularly mechanically. And there's nothing you can do about that. But, out of the ten times the car has been good - whatever it is - I've often done the job with it but then there definitely has been a few that, probably in the first few seconds of the race have not gone that well. But that's motor racing."
Check out our Thursday gallery from Austin, here.