Lewis Hamilton confident of winning title

Lewis Hamilton

Sao Paulo, Nov 10 (IANS)

Lewis Hamilton remained bullish about his Formula 1 title hopes despite seeing his lead cut to 17 points ahead of the season-ending Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi.

The Briton finished second behind Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg in Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix, setting up a tantalising finale on 23rd November, where double points will be on offer, reports Xinhua.

Asked whether the result at Interlagos had made him doubt his title chances, Hamilton replied: "No. Why would I think that? It's not the way to approach any race weekend."

The 29-year finished just 1.4 seconds behind the German despite losing seven seconds after spinning before the race's midway point.

"Ultimately it cost me the win. I was a much quicker up to that point. I went a second quicker, thought I was going to pit on that lap, used all my tyres and on the next lap there was nothing left. I locked the rear and went wide. Nobody's mistake but mine."

Despite the mishap, Hamilton insisted that he drew positives from the performance.

"The race showed I used my tyres better than anyone," Hamilton said.

"And I used them better than Nico. I was always behind, so I was always in his dirty air, scrubbing the life out of the tyres, but still staying with him.

"And when he pitted I had extra pace. There are a lot of positives to take from. (But) There is zero comfort going into the next race. There are 50 points to gain. The last race, you never know what's going to happen, so I'm going there to win."

Rosberg, who was the fastest in both practice sessions and qualifying, said he would approach the Abu Dhabi race with renewed confidence.

"I'm very happy with the whole weekend," Rosberg said. "I've been feeling comfortable in the car and controlled the gap to Lewis in the race."

Local hero Felipe Massa finished third in his Williams, the team's best result in the Brazilian Grand Prix for 10 years.

The 33-year-old former Ferrari driver admitted to making "errors" that almost cost him a place on the podium.

"It was a tough race and I was to blame for lot of things that happened," Massa said.

"But the car was perfect. I was able to be steady and get back into the race."