Hamilton: No change of approach required

Lewis Hamilton insists his large advantage at the top of the 2018 Formula 1 drivers’ championship over Sebastian Vettel does not necessitate a change in approach.

The Mercedes driver moved 30 points clear of Vettel after taking full advantage of a first-lap clash that sent his chief rival spinning to the back of the grid to claim an important win at Monza.

Six wins to Vettel’s five so far this year means Hamilton has a bigger advantage than he held at the same stage in 2017, thought the Briton stressed he has not allowed his enhanced position in the standings to creep into his mind.

When asked if it was a factor on his mind heading into this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix, Hamilton replied: “Honestly it is not, it might be subconsciously but I have not thought about it.

“At the moment there is no reason to change the way I approach races as there are a lot of points still available so the approach is still exactly the same as it has been all year long.

“It seems to be working so that’s really, we’ll just keep that up as long as we can basically but we do expect to have some difficult races up ahead. Obviously Ferrari have been ahead of us for the past few races so we’ve got to keep up with them if not pass them but it will be tough.”

Mercedes is bracing itself for a difficult weekend in Singapore having struggled for performance in recent years, despite ultimately winning the race after both Ferrari’s crashed out on the opening lap of last year’s event.

“I honestly never have expectations every time I come to races,” Hamilton explained. “I guess ultimately our expectation is to give it our all and try to perform as well, if not better, than we have in the past races.

“I think collectively as a team we have done a tremendous job over the past few races so we want to try to keep that quality of performance.”

Hamilton added he is wary of the additional threat that could be posed to Mercedes by Red Bull, with the twisty streets of the Marina Bay Street Circuit expected to favour the Milton Keynes-based squad’s RB14 package.

“They have been there or thereabouts in quite a lot of races so you have to assume as this is usually a good race for them,” he said.

“I think they have stopped developing their car for quite a long time so they can focus on next year’s car. From what I’ve heard.

“They are driving what they have but I think this weekend as it is a downforce circuit they are always good on their rear tyres as well so this should undoubtedly be a strong weekend for them as it was last year.”