Abu Dhabi F1 Grand Prix 2014: I don’t have to win, but I always drive that way, says Lewis Hamilton

With his second world title in sight, the British driver plays it cool but says he is far stronger than for 2008’s finale

Lewis Hamilton greets fans at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi yesterday (Corbis)

It is fight week in Abu Dhabi. Lewis Hamilton, who gave a fair impression of being relaxed ahead of Sunday’s showdown, says it feels like Christmas but as the clock ticks down to the final race of the season, all diplomacy goes out of the window.

Formula One is unique in asking team-mates to slug it out. At least in boxing adversaries can spit at each other from different camps, and when they do come together at the set-piece rituals, pre-fight diplomacy forms no part of the pantomime.

Hamilton and Nico Rosberg share a career timeline that threads all the way back to karts, when they also raced as team-mates in the Formula A Championship. Back then it was possible to enjoy the competition. That informal aspect of racing is checked at the paddock when a driver enters the sport’s elite category.

Hamilton’s 17-point lead in the drivers’ competition is not the advantage it would have been before the wretched double-points gimmick, which rightly faces the axe next year. Nevertheless, second spot or above in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix will be enough to make him a world champion for the second time.

Rosberg’s interests are also best served by victory. After that his chances diminish as the points potential shrinks. As you might expect, neither is betraying any sign of frailty.

Nico Rosberg (right) offers Mercedes team-mate and Formula One title rival Lewis Hamilton his hand during a news conference in Abu Dhabi yesterday (Reuters)

“I come into the weekend trying to win the race, like always. So nothing changes there,” Hamilton said. “In terms of the pressure, I don’t really feel anything. I have been racing for 20 years to prepare for it. I know it’s a seminal moment, but it’s also just another weekend and I’m approaching it like I would any other race.

“I’m in the best place of my whole life, the best car, the best team. I’m excited. The last time I was in this situation I was nervous. Now it’s the same as being a kid at Christmas.”

Yes and no, Lewis. As we have seen this season and as Hamilton discovered during 2007 – his first year in Formula One – circumstances have a way of warping the most centred minds. Rosberg had some explaining to do in May when he parked his car before the tunnel in Monaco to wreck Hamilton’s final qualifying lap and thus preserve his pole position. Naughty.

At Spa in August, when Rosberg shaved a chunk of rubber off Hamilton’s rears to put him out of contention, no explanation was required, only an apology and a severe reprimand from the Mercedes hierarchy for behaving both badly and irresponsibly.

In the main Rosberg has borne the criticism well, though there is a sense now that he has served his time, as evidenced when the issue was explored. “Lewis can do something [to ensure it is a fair fight] and that is drive cleanly himself,” he said.

On the issue of track etiquette Hamilton had this to say: “You have to go into weekends believing it’s going to be the case [fair]. It has been discussed before the season, during the season and especially after Spa. We’re not children. Nico and I are both focused on doing the job, and obviously we both want to win.

“I’m really looking forward to driving the car. I’m not coming here feeling like I need to drive the race of my life. I’ve driven well all year. I know that I don’t need to win, but I always drive to win.”

Mercedes have done a half-decent job of keeping their drivers apart. Hamilton and Fernando Alonso endured a torrid season seven years ago, when neither took the title in the season’s superior car. Hamilton has shut the door on that chapter but acknowledges its importance in making him the driver he is. “I haven’t thought of 2007 and 2008. I was much younger then and in a more difficult place as an individual. I’ve come a long way since then. Experience has shaped me into what I am today.”

Mercedes rebounded from the madness of Spa through the determined and thoughtful leadership of the team principal, Toto Wolff. The sport owes Wolff a debt of gratitude for providing the season with an epic focal point when all else is falling apart. Were it not for the visceral arm-wrestling of the Mercedes drivers the campaign would have been seen for the disaster it has been, woefully predictable and, for at least half the grid, financially unsustainable.

Rosberg’s gun-to-tape victory at the penultimate race in Sao Paulo has taken matters to the wire in a meaningful way, though he still requires the variables to fall kindly for him. “It’s an intense weekend,” he said. “I wouldn’t use the word pressure. Lewis is a great competitor and it will, hopefully, be a great end to the season. I’m here to try to win the race and I need a bit of help from Lewis that he doesn’t finish second. There are many scenarios and I’m optimistic. In Brazil he made a mistake and I need to do what I can to keep the pressure on.”

Hamilton’s error at Interlagos was to spin while trying to make up time through the pit stops in order to leapfrog Rosberg into first place. Happily for him, there were no negative consequences.

In a sense Interlagos offered Rosberg the best opportunity to make up ground. The undulating nature of the track and the ever-present threat of rain often produce chaotic races, no more so than the 2008 season denouement when the weather wrecked Hamilton’s conservative strategy. Only when Timo Glock’s Toyota ran out of appropriate rubber at the penultimate turn did Hamilton retrieve a desperate situation to claim his first world crown.

His victim that day, Felipe Massa, believes Hamilton to be more deserving of clinching the world title this time around, pointing out that a man who wins 10 races in a season has historically done enough to win the championship. “If Lewis wins or Nico wins I don’t care, but I think Lewis deserves it a bit more compared to Nico. He won more races. I think maybe he did a better championship.

“But ‘deserve’ sometimes is a little bit different in sports. Things happen in a different way sometimes,” Massa said with feeling, his victory at Interlagos six years ago having left him shy by a point.