LH44: Historic title wrap up within reach at COTA

Despite having a comfortable 67 lead over Vettel, in the wake of his back-to-back victories in Russia and Japan, he is not changing his approach to race weekends, despite being aware of the magnitude of a victory in Texas and Vettel's result going in his favour.

After his ninth win of the season coming at Suzuka, Lewis said: "Honestly, I'll take it one step at a time. Each week you have a positive weekend and you go to another Grand Prix and you're not sure how you're going to fare and how you're going to perform, because there are still gaps in between. But I think we have gone from strength to strength this year as a team, so I really hope that we can [win]. Austin is usually a good track for us, so I can't wait to unleash this beast there."

Toto said: "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.

"The battle is far from over, so 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. Everyone in the team knows that we cannot take anything for granted, so we will be as diligent as ever, keep our heads down and work hard to get a good result in Texas. "This championship fight has been exhilarating and we can't wait for the next chapter in the epic battle of silver and red.”