Lewis Hamilton has labelled the 62-point championship swing between him and Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg as “crazy”, though the Briton admits he would like to enjoy a bigger gap to cover his future engine penalty.
Hamilton extended his lead to 19 points by winning last Sunday’s German Grand Prix. The triple world champion sat 43 behind his title rival after they took each other out on the opening lap in Spain seven races ago.
“I didn’t know until I got into the pen afterwards that I was 19 points ahead,” Hamilton said. “I hadn’t really figured it out, but that’s just crazy. I was 43 points behind and now it’s swung the other way.
“It’s gone by so quickly. It’s almost like a couple of weeks ago we were in Barcelona and I was 43 points behind thinking ‘Geez I might come away 50 points behind’ and finding it hard to find a way through the woods.”
Having suffered several power unit issues this year, Hamilton remains aware that he will have to take an engine penalty and start from the back of the field at some point. The 31-year-old says he needs to secure a bigger buffer to keep his hopes of a fourth world title alive.
“I don’t know how the damage limitation will be, I don’t know how far I’m going to be able to get up. There’s all these different things I could be faced with.
“Nico most likely will be out enjoying a Sunday drive and I’m going to be battling through a lot of different people.
“So do I feel like I’m properly ahead? Still not enough because I’m not a race win ahead yet and so I hope I might be able to have the chance to get a race win ahead and I think then I would feel like I was ahead.”
REPORT: Hamilton beats Red Bulls to extend championship lead
AS IT HAPPENED: German Grand Prix
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