After his victory at the US Grand Prix, Hamilton is 24 points clear of his title rival Nico Rosberg with 75 points remaining up for grabs at the final two rounds. In his first F1 season in 2007 Hamilton led the championship going into the final round but lost out to Kimi Raikkonen. He went on to win the following year in dramatic fashion with an overtake in the final corner before missing out on an opportunity again in 2010 at the final round.
He believes those experiences mean he knows how much hard work is needed to take this year’s title.
“I’m definitely in a different place to where I was back then,” he said. “Either that or it’s just experience and being older, and having those experiences of winning and losing – I feel that I understand the approach that I need.
“There’s no real special recipe, I’ve just got to work my arse off for these next two races and try to improve. Today’s not just a win, there are a lot of things I can still take out of today in terms of how I drove. There are things that I should have done in qualifying that I didn’t pick up on that were visible from previous years. Small things like that, I’ll make sure I pick up on them and leave no stone unturned.”
Hamilton qualified behind Rosberg in Austin after a minor brake issue but went on to beat his team-mate in the race. He said the way he has raced has not changed since he was a child in karting and his father told him: “Drive it like you stole it”.
“Qualifying was particularly weak and there were two reasons. It wasn’t just the brakes, my driving lines weren’t actually the best under the braking zones, so I studied that last night and fixed it today and it worked quite well. On race day I have known since I was eight years old how I can race and that’s still the same today. My dad always said ‘Drive like you stole it’ and that’s what I still do today!”
Read more at http://en.espnf1.com/mercedes/motorsport/story/182275.html#5wq1Gm8Q4ygyv5cS.99