Lewis Hamilton enters the last two races of the Formula One season hopeful Mercedes-GP have done enough to solve the reliability issues that hurt the team earlier in the year.
With a comfortable lead over teammate Nico Rosberg, Hamilton will be in good position to clinch his second world title if he can bring his car home at Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix and at the Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the season finale, on November 23.
Hamilton can secure the title with consecutive second-place finishes or by finishing third in Brazil and second in Abu Dhabi, which will be worth double points.
Mercedes have been dominant all year, winning 14 of the season’s 17 races. If Hamilton can avoid accidents and the mechanical problems that affected the team at stages through the season, he can coast behind Rosberg, finish where he needs to and clinch the title.
“The most difficult thing this year for sure was dealing with the DNFs and the problems that we had with the car and not finishing the races,” he said.
“We have to turn negatives into positives. That’s how I managed to get myself where I am today. We have to put that positive energy out there and maximise the opportunities.”
Hamilton failed to finish three races this year, two (Australia and Canada) of which were because of mechanical problems. He also had to start at the rear of the field twice (Germany and Hungary) because of car problems in qualifying.
Rosberg has also had his fair share of troubles with two retirements, but another setback for Hamilton in Brazil could turn the title race in Rosberg’s favour again.
“This is not something you think about,” Hamilton said. “We are going into the last two races with positive energy.”
Hamilton has won 10 races this season, including the past five, and made it onto the podium every time he crossed the finish line.
Mercedes have finished 1-2 in 10 of the 17 races and the last time one of its drivers retired was at the Singapore GP in September, when Rosberg had technical problems with his electronic steering wheel.
“Yes, we’ve had issues, we’ve not been perfect, but we’ve been constantly improving and trying to rectify all the issues that we’ve had,” Hamilton said.
“Some of the issues that have come up have been a huge surprise for us. We don’t know what the future holds, but I think we’ve done quite a good job, particularly in the last five or six races. I’m hopeful.”
Mercedes motorsport chief Toto Wolff said the team are focused on making sure both cars make it to the end in the final two races.
“There will be [no] rest between now and the end of the season as the double points in Abu Dhabi still has the potential to overshadow a great season should reliability become a factor,” he said.
“Our focus is still 100 per cent on ensuring that is not the case.”
Although Hamilton clinched his first world title in Brazil in 2008, he has not had a lot of good luck at the Interlagos track.
He failed to finish the race in two of the past three years and was only ninth in 2013.
He has never finished better than third at the track in Sao Paulo.
The British driver said things could be different this time.
“We have a great car, an amazing team, this is the best season I’ve ever had,” he said. “It’s like I’m going for my first world championship.
“I’m hungrier than ever.”
Rosberg, who has not won a race since Germany in July, seven races ago, said his aim was simply to keep himself in the hunt realistically ahead of the final race in Abu Dhabi in two weeks’ time.
“I’ve got a mixed record at this circuit [Interlagos], but it’s one I really enjoy as it’s usually a really action-packed race,” Rosberg said.
“It would be great to give my title challenge a final boost with a good result before we head to the showdown in Abu Dhabi.”
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