Hamilton would be happy with Mercedes 1-2 ‘either way’

The seven-time world champion bounced back from a disappointing qualifying and eighth on the grid to finish third behind Mercedes teammate George Russell and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in the third and final sprint race of the year in Brazil. 

But with Sainz set to drop five positions for Sunday’s grand prix after taking a new engine, Mercedes will lock-out the front-row of the grid ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. 

• Russell wins thrilling sprint race, Verstappen slips to fourth

Hamilton is looking to preserve his record of winning at least one race in every season he has contested, while Mercedes are hoping to end their victory-less campaign after suffering back-to-back defeats to Verstappen in the United States and Mexico City. 

“Getting a 1-2 either way, I’m going to be happy personally just because of how hard everybody has worked,” Hamilton said.

“George has done an amazing job this year and he will be pushing for that win. We’ll of course drive carefully and clean. What we’ve always got to have at the core of our mind is the team, getting the result for the team. 

“But of course individually, we’ll do our best to try and get the best result.”  

Hamilton, who was made an honorary citizen of Brazil ahead of the weekend, admitted it would be the “greatest dream” for him to take a second successive victory at Interlagos. 

“It would be the greatest dream for sure, to get a win here,” he added. 

“It will be tough to race George tomorrow but we’ll hopefully have a bit of a battle. 

“Either way, we’ve got to make sure that we get the points and the 1-2 for the team.” 

Hamilton is one of three drivers under investigation over the start procedure.