Hamilton not giving up on 2016 title, but says he would "move on" to focus on 2017 if Rosberg beats him; Confirms he is "100 per cent" fit for US GP after foot injury ruled him out of tyre test
Monday 24 October 2016 14:20, UK
Lewis Hamilton says he will "take it like a man" if Nico Rosberg beats him to the F1 world title this year.
Hamilton faces an uphill battle to retain the championship he has won in each of the last two seasons with Mercedes team-mate Rosberg holding a commanding 33-point lead heading into the final four races, where there is a maximum of 100 points available.
With wins in each of the final four Grands Prix now not necessarily enough to deny Rosberg, Hamilton is facing the prospect of losing out on a title to a team-mate for the first time in his career.
Asked how we could feel if Rosberg, his childhood friend turned fierce rival, became champion, Hamilton, while not ruling out his own chances of staging a late-season fightback, says he would accept it and move on into 2017.
"Try to take it like a man," he replied in Thursday's Drivers' Press Conference ahead of this weekend's US GP. "You can't win them all.
"Look at all the world champions in the past who have won championships and lost championships, it's part of the game.
"I am in the position right now where there are still a lot of points available so I'm going to give it everything I've got, and still have the belief that anything's possible.
"But then [if not] I'll move on. Once it's decided and it happens all I can do is shape the future, which is next year. So life would move on, we'd go into next season and hopefully come back stronger."
United States GP talking points
Were Rosberg to deny Hamilton a fourth world title this year, then it would represent the first time the German has outscored him in their four seasons together at Mercedes. The Briton also emerged ahead when they were teenage team-mates in karting.
Despite Rosberg's points advantage, Hamilton believes he has still regularly performed strongly this year when mechanical failures have not intervened. However, he did allude to a series of poor starts which have handed his team-mate the race-winning initiative in races.
"Obviously this year has been a little bit different in terms of how our performances have been, particularly mechanically, and there's nothing you can do about that," Hamilton said.
"But out of the 10 times the car has been good, or whatever it is, I've often done the job with it. But there definitely have been a few where the first few seconds of a race have not gone that well, but that's motor racing."
Meanwhile, Hamilton confirmed he had no fitness worries heading into the Austin race weekend after sitting out last week's Pirelli tyre test due to a foot injury.
"I am 100 per cent, I feel great," he confirmed. "I basically had an injury that I carried all year long.
"Fortunately the physio said it just takes a lot of stretching over time. The most important thing was to be fresh for here, and this is the first week where it felt good."
