AUSTIN, Texas, (Reuters) – Lewis Hamilton can live his own American dream by becoming a triple Formula One world champion in Texas on Sunday.
If the Briton scores two points more than Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg, and nine more than Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, at the Circuit of the Americas then it is game over with three races to spare.
A Mercedes one-two, with Hamilton winning, would see to that.
No British driver has ever won two Formula One titles in a row, despite the country providing more world champions than any other nation, but Hamilton looks set to make history in a country he considers home from home.
The 30-year-old would join Jackie Stewart, now 76, as Britain’s only three times champions but it is another great — Brazil’s late triple title winner Ayrton Senna — that he most wants to emulate.
“I didn’t grow up watching Jackie, when I was a kid, I wanted to see Ayrton,” Hamilton, who until recently raced with a similar yellow helmet to Senna’s, told British reporters after victory in Russia 10 days ago put the title within reach.
“I don’t have that connection with Jackie as I did with Ayrton. It has nothing to do with nationality, just that’s the guy who caught my eye as a kid and that’s the guy I aspired to be,” he said.
“I haven’t aspired to be like any of the other drivers.”
If Brazil, next month, might have been a more symbolic place to secure the title then the United States is perfect in other respects.
Hamilton has a holiday home in Colorado and is a frequent visitor, as celebrity websites and his social media accounts bear witness, to both the east and west coasts of a country that is also his employer’s biggest market.
With Mercedes wrapping up the constructors’ title in Russia for the second year in a row, Sunday could see the ‘double double’ sealed in style.
The country’s race has been good to Hamilton, who is chasing a literal hat-trick after winning two of the three grands prix held so far in Austin and three of the last four in the United States.
