Hamilton wants to end “intense pressure” of F1 title fight

Lewis Hamilton is desperate to remove the “intense pressure” of the 2018 Formula 1 title fight by sealing the championship at this weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix.

The Briton only needs a top-seven finish in Mexico on Sunday to secure this year’s crown, even if Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel wins. Such an achievement would see Hamilton become just the third driver in F1 history to win five or more world titles.

Asked if he would have preferred the title fight to go down to the wire, Hamilton replied: “I guess if I was sitting back and watching grands prix on TV I would’ve wanted it to go to the end but I’m not in that seat.

“When you are in it and living in it you just want to get it done, whenever that is.

“The pressure is just so intense the sooner the pressure is off then the more you can enjoy yourself, because the pressure is very intense.”

Hamilton is refusing to take his and Mercedes seemingly comfortable advantage for granted and said he is keen to wrap up the constructors’ championship sooner rather than later.

“It’s difficult to view that from the outside but there’s still a lot of points available and lots could go wrong,” he explained.

“There’s lots of people relying on me and I really want to win this constructors’ title for the team. We lost some points in the last round and actually being in the team, you feel the pain for everyone because you want to deliver.

“In actual fact I feel like I did everything I could but coming here and these next races, I feel the team has earned the position it is in.”

Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes were closely-matched on performance last year and Hamilton is excited for what he is expecting to be another three-way battle in Mexico this weekend.

“The Ferraris were really quick in the last race so you have to assume they will be again,” Hamilton said. “They were quicker last year, the top three last year were the Ferraris and Red Bull [in qualifying].

“With the power difference here, it’s kind of irrelevant. You see Red Bull, which is a great car, they will be really quick this weekend. They will be hard to beat. They came second in the last race and will be strong in qualifying, so I’m excited for that.”

FEATURE: Take two: How Hamilton can wrap up fifth F1 title in Mexico