|
The German told reporters at the Malaysian
Grand Prix on Thursday that he felt he still had time to close
the gap on his Mercedes rival.
"I don't think there's much assessment necessary," said the
four-times world champion, sitting between team mate Kimi
Raikkonen and Red Bull's Max Verstappen at a news conference
ahead of Sunday's race.
"Obviously, on Sunday all three of us were unhappy but you move
on.
"I think we have a lot of races left, I think we have a strong
car. I'm not too fussed about the amount of points," he added.
The start-line carnage that wiped out all three drivers' hopes
cleared the way for Hamilton to win from fifth place on the
grid.
With just six of the 20 rounds remaining, the gap between
Hamilton and Vettel -- who had led until only two races ago --
is the biggest it has been so far in an otherwise hard-fought
season.
Vettel will have to win four of the remaining six races just to
even the score again if Hamilton were to finish second in them
all.
The Briton won't need to win another race this season if Vettel,
a record four-time winner in Malaysia, finishes lower than
second on Sunday.
But the 30-year-old has staged seemingly impossible comebacks in
the past, including in 2010 when he clinched his maiden title
despite trailing Hamilton by 31 points with six races to go.
That was in a different era, however, with Hamilton at McLaren
and cars using the old V8 engines.
Hamilton, who suffered a similar championship setback to Vettel
a year ago in Malaysia when his engine blew while he was
leading, was also reluctant to hail the Singapore race as the
season's decisive turning point.
"There's lots of turning points within a year," he told
reporters. "I'm going to try and make sure that was the last
one."
(Editing by Alan Baldwin)
[© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2017 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
|
