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Mercedes spoke to Lewis Hamilton about off-track behaviour

"As cool as somebody might seem on the outside, inside it kind of eats you up," says Toto Wolff

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has admitted he spoke to Lewis Hamilton about "improving" his off-track demeanour ahead of the US Grand Prix.

After receiving criticism for his attitude and cancelled press briefings in Japan, Hamilton was praised by the media for his charm offensive during Thursday's press conference in which he was engaged and polite throughout.

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And Wolff says that while he didn't deliver a stern warning, he confirmed he had chatted to the world champion - who is looking to fight back from 33 points behind team-mate Nico Rosberg in the championship - before heading Stateside.

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"We had a couple of conversations," Wolff said. "It was generally about how things can be improved, not a headmaster kind of discussion."

The Austrian also claimed Hamilton found it difficult to cope following his engine blowout in Malaysia. Without that failure, the Brit would be just six points adrift of Rosberg with four races remaining.

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Lewis Hamilton says he will keep trying until the end of the season and if Nico Rosberg wins the title he will take it like a man.

"I think we underestimate the pressure that these guys are under," added Wolff. "It's a couple of races towards the end of the season, there is all to win and all to lose. After Malaysia when the engine blew up, that was a very difficult situation for him to cope with.

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"As cool as somebody might seem on the outside, inside it kind of eats you up. Maybe that's why the weekend was a little bit difficult for him emotionally. But he knows exactly that there's a job to be done in the car and there's a job to be done on the outside of the car and it just needs small impulse, not more, and this is what happened."

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Hamilton received nearly all the questions on Thursday as he discussed his fitness and how he would react to Rosberg beating him for the first time as team-mates.

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Paul Di Resta guides us through a lap of the Circuit of the Americas with Romain Grosjean of Haas during practice one of the US GP.

And he certainly seemed to win over Fleet Street, with The Daily Mail declaring: 'Meet Lewis Hamilton, diplomat, philosopher, campaigner, charmer, all-round good guy.'This was the world champion on tip-top behaviour.'

Kevin Eason of The Times, meanwhile, posted on Twitter: 'Lewis Hamilton in fine form for #USGP official presser. Articulate, intelligent. Good stuff.'
 

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