Hamilton expects fair fight from Rosberg as title looms

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Lewis Hamilton says he likes "to think higher" of Nico Rosberg than for his team-mate to try any tricks to secure his first drivers' championship.

Rosberg will become world champion if he wins today's Brazilian Grand Prix, as he currently holds a 19-point lead in the standings. While Hamilton starts from pole position, the Briton is aware Rosberg holds the upper hand but expects his team-mate to fight cleanly as he tries to seal the title.

“I don’t go into the race expecting anything less than a fair fight," Hamilton said. "I mean, of course you can look at history and you can look at what some drivers have done in the past but I like to think higher of him and that wouldn’t be something he would do. But I just need to make sure I’m ahead.”

And Hamilton himself says he will not be trying to disrupt Rosberg's race, despite knowing a second and a third place in the final two races will be enough for the German.

“I don’t believe there is anything I can do, honestly. I’m sure you could maybe try and do something and try and be smart and then just screw yourself over, so it’s not something that I’m going to do anyway. I want to win because I’ve been the best, not through tactics that I did or anything like that.

"Obviously I’m in this awkward position due to a lot of issues we’ve had this year and there’s nothing I can do about that. I’m quite happy with my qualifying ... I’ve had 11 poles and I didn’t even get to qualify in three of them.

"So I’m really happy with how the end of the season is going so far and I just want to keep pushing. As long as I do my job in these next two races that’s all I can ask for."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.