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| Lewis Hamilton has admitted he was concerned by the prospect of another breakdown during the US GP |
Lewis Hamilton has revealed he was filled with dread throughout the US GP as the Austin victor anxiously fretted whether his Mercedes car would finish the race.
While Hamilton's victory, the 50th of his F1 career, appeared serene on the surface, the world champion has admitted he spent the entire grand prix racing in fear he would suffer another mechanical failure following a season in which his W07 has been beset by unreliability.
"That was the longest afternoon I have had, I didn't know if the car was going to make it - that was the biggest concern I had throughout the race," Hamilton told Sky F1.
The world champion later added: "I was petrified the whole race. I am haunted by the sound l heard in Malaysia. It weighed heavy throughout the whole race."
Despite barely putting a wheel off line all weekend, Hamilton's anxiety was aggravated by a fuel-system glitch which required an overnight refit ahead of qualifying.
Although Mercedes sought to reassure their driver that the performance loss was minuscule, measuring the loss of total race time at less than two seconds, the scars of last month's agonising Malaysia GP, when Hamilton was denied a certain victory by an engine blow-out in the closing stages, have cut deep.
"There was a fuel-system change and the unreliability which only we seem to have, so that plays on your mind. I was down on power compared to Nico," he said.
The overarching problem for Hamilton is that, no matter how impressive, his victory has scarcely put a dent into Rosberg's formidable title lead after the German finished in second.
The awkward fact remains that even if Hamilton were to win all of the final races, Rosberg can still claim the championship by finishing in second place in Mexico, Brazil and Abu Dhabi. As unsporting as it may sound, Hamilton's best hope therefore remains Rosberg suffering from the laws of average.
"He's not had any unreliability," he added. "The laws [of average] would say at same point he would. But if he has perfect reliability through the rest of year, he has perfect reliability and I can just do my best."
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