McLaren driver hopes to go wheel-to-wheel with world champion
Last Updated: September 23, 2011 7:00pm
Hamilton: Wants to fight it out with Vettel
Lewis Hamilton is "dying" to go wheel-to-wheel with Sebastian Vettel as he prepares for an end-of-year duel with Formula One's champion elect.
Hamilton knows his hopes of winning the world title this season are all but over as he heads into Sunday's night race in Singapore trailing Vettel by 126 points.
It means that the British driver, who came into the season with high hopes of reclaiming the crown he won in 2008, has little left to fight for other than pride and respectability to carry McLaren into 2012.
His aim now is to at least make Vettel work for back-to-back championships rather than cruising over the line in what has so far been a dominant campaign.
"Theoretically the title isn't over, but I'm not really thinking much about the championship anymore," Hamilton said.
"Whilst there's a small chance we'll still keep pushing, we'll never give up. We still take some energy, some positivity into these last few races, because we're still competitive.
Pole
"For one thing it would be fantastic to knock him off pole. Just for the team, being the only team and being the only driver to do that would be pretty cool.
"In a race we know he can be beaten, and that we can still have some good wheel-to-wheel racing.
"I'm dying to have some wheel-to-wheel racing with him, and so I hope I have a few more opportunities to do that."
Hamilton has conceded to not being his usual aggressive self last time out in Italy, highlighted by the fact he spent 24 laps trying to get past Michael Schumacher.
"I wanted to finish, but I didn't go balls out. I didn't take too many risks," Hamilton added.
"Even the slightest risk I would have been in the barrier, I wouldn't have finished. He (Schumacher) wouldn't have let me past without crashing into me.
Sensible
"I just made sure I was sensible and I finished the race, and it felt great to be able to finish and walk away with some dignity."
With the championship no longer a realistic goal, Hamilton says that the aim for the rest of the season is to add to his tally of two race wins this season.
The 2008 world champion said: "I'm focusing on trying to win a few more races, that would make me happy.
"Sometimes it's important about how you finish, and now it's important about how we finish our season.
"It's about pushing to improve the car and the results, and for me as an individual it's about finishing all the remaining races in a good place so we can take any momentum from that into next year."
Credit: Sky Sports (www.skysports.com)
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