Lewis Hamilton throws down gauntlet to championship favourite Nico Rosberg
Britain's rock-climbing F1 ace ready to scale new heights in Mexico in bid to bridge 26-point gap to Mercedes teammate
LEWIS HAMILTON is ready to scale new heights to retain his F1 title.
He trails Mercedes team-mate and bitter rival Nico Rosberg by 26 points ahead of this weekend’s Mexico Grand Prix.
German Rosberg can clinch Hamilton’s crown if he wins on Sunday — and the Brit finishes 10th or lower.
But fired-up Hamilton is a keen rock climber in his spare time and insists the biggest challenges merely bring out the very best in him.
The three-time world champion said: “If I go rock climbing, I don’t go for the easiest wall - I go for the hardest first. It is almost as if my eyes are too big for my belly and I order a bigger plate than I can finish.
“Sometimes I make it and sometimes I don’t — but I love the challenge.
“Would I like to be in a different position right now? Of course, but that’s not how it is.
“I just know I have this challenge in front of me and am ready to go.
“I am ready to fight and if it doesn’t turn out, then it is OK. But if it does, then great.
“I am just getting my mind ready to get pole and win the race from start to finish.
“I don’t feel I arrive at a Grand Prix, or any competition — racing or not — and I want it to be easy. I love doing things that are difficult.”
After his victory last time in the US Grand Prix, Hamilton arrived here in Mexico City in relaxed mood.
While his win in Austin reduced Rosberg’s advantage, Hamilton is also realistic that the outcome of the title is out of his own hands, with only the Brazil and Abu Dhabi races left.
He added: “I approach this race in the same way I do every race.
“But I am definitely more relaxed because I have accepted things are now out of my power.
“All I can do is control what is in the car and what I can do.
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“So as long as I put all my energy into that, hopefully I can get the same result as I did last weekend — but if I don’t, then I will move on.
“For as long as I have that possibility — even if it is just one per cent — I will be going for it.”
Hamilton, 31, admitted after his win in Austin that he was nervous about getting another mechanical problem, which have cost him so substantially this season.
And he said he will constantly be worrying about the reliability of his Mercedes engine until he crosses the line in the final race of the season.
He added: “That fear will probably continue until Abu Dhabi.
“The worry will also happen more often because I am on my eighth engine — and failures have happened to me more than the others.
“But I am confident everyone is doing all they can to make sure it does not happen, these things are out of our hands.
“This year, things have happened that are out of control, so I guess you have to take everything with a pinch of salt.”
Hamilton has already thrown down an early marker in Mexico.
He set the quickest lap time in free practice one after racking up 34 laps around the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
Rosberg could only manage seventh quickest with a time 0.759s slower.