Lewis Hamilton fears F1 crown is lost to Nico Rosberg but insists his late surge proves he is the better driver
LEWIS HAMILTON is resigned to losing his Formula One crown to Nico Rosberg.
The Brit admits all his early season reliability problems have left him in an “awkward position” if he wants to retain his title.
Rosberg needs only to finish in the top three in Abu Dhabi to win his maiden title.
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Hamilton says he takes some comfort from the fact he is driving better than his Mercedes team-mate.
But the three-time champ is coming to terms with the fact he could lose out to Rosberg for the first time in his racing career.
He said: “I am happy that I beat everyone in Brazil. I am happy that I’m in the same car and I am beating Nico and he is driving at his best right now.
“At the Brazil Grand Prix, he had nothing on me.
“I am happy that we as a team are continuing to make history and it is great that my mechanics have gelled so well with me.
“But Nico is doing all he has to do and that is finish every race. I am in an awkward position going into the last race.
“It doesn’t matter if I drive there like I did in Brazil because I lost so much earlier in the year.”
Hamilton labelled his first win in Sao Paulo as one of his easiest, despite rain forcing a delayed start, two stoppages and plenty of crashes.
However, the 31-year-old says race bosses were TOO cautious and accused them of spoiling the action.
He added: “I think the officials do a good job and they should put safety first because people were going off the track.
“But Formula One is supposed to be extreme.
“We stopped too many times and there were way too many laps behind the safety car.
“I won, and that is the ultimate goal but I just think we could have had a better race for the fans who stood out in the rain for so long.”
Yet Toro Rosso driver Carlos Sainz says the conditions were far too dangerous.
The Spaniard, 22, who finished sixth, said: “It’s very easy from home to say: ‘Oh, these guys, why aren’t they racing, this isn’t F1 any more’.
“But from inside, it’s unbelievable how difficult it was, and how dangerous it was.
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“Kimi Raikkonen spun completely in front of me, and I was just ten metres from hitting him at 180mph.
“I don’t blame the race director for being that tiny bit easy on the conditions because it was very, very difficult.”
Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso lashed out at Sebastian Vettel after the two tangled in Brazil.
McLaren driver Alonso had to go off track to avoid hitting Vettel’s Ferrari — but warned next time he would just drive into the German.
The 35-year-old said: “There was an asphalt run-off and I used it and nothing happened.
“But if there’s a wall there, I either drive into the wall or into him — which is what I will probably do next time.
“I’ll crash into him and he’ll lose more than me.”