Mercedes boss Toto Wolff says Lewis Hamilton “has shown what a class act he is” through his recent race-winning form in Formula 1.
Hamilton trailed title rival Sebastian Vettel after finishing second to the Ferrari driver at July’s British Grand Prix, but their respective fortunes have since diverged.
Hamilton has won six Grands Prix out of a possible seven and now holds a lead of 67 points over Vettel, who has suffered a string of incidents and setbacks.
It leaves Hamilton on the brink of a fifth world title, which he will wrap up at this weekend’s United States Grand Prix should he out-score Vettel by eight points.
“Two 1-2s in a row show how well both drivers are performing,” said Wolff, referring to Mercedes’ results in Japan and Russia.
“With six race victories in the last seven races, Lewis has shown what a class act he is.
“Both on and off the track he is more complete than ever before, showing commanding performance in the car and challenging the entire team to perform to higher levels at the same time.
“Valtteri [Bottas] had some tough races in the summer, but came back strong in recent weeks.
“He was competitive in both Sochi and Suzuka and embodied our team spirit. We're lucky to have this driver line-up and we know can count on them as the season comes to its close.”
Wolff also stressed that Ferrari remains close to Mercedes in spite of their recent respective results.
“While we didn't have the fastest car in the summer, we've seen the performance swing in our favour recently; however, it is closer than it looked in recent races,” he said.
“Ferrari have a strong car and they will keep on pushing until the very last corner in Abu Dhabi.
“They have been worthy opponents in the past 17 races and we have no reason to believe that this will change in the next four; just like us, they will fight fiercely for every point and position.
“We approach Austin the same way as every other race: take it one step at a time, focus on our job and make sure we bring performance and reliability to the track.
“The Circuit of the Americas has been a good track for us ever since it was introduced in the F1 calendar, but past results have no impact on the current championship.”
See also: How Hamilton can clinch title at COTA
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