Wolff: Let’s go and clinch it in Austin

LEWIS HAMILTON has one hand on his ‘dream’ fifth world championship trophy after victory in Japan yesterday. But his Mercedes boss Toto Wolff is guarding against late complacency, and says he cannot even bring himself to think of Hamilton’s championship victory before the title is fully in his grasp. Hamilton’s ninth win of the season lifted the Briton 67 points clear of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel. He now requires eight points more than his rival in the US Grand Prix on Sunday week to complete the task. ‘I have dreamt about winning the title all year long,’ said Hamilton, 33. ‘But it is one thing dreaming about it and another executing it. ‘We knew we would have a tough battle this year, and you have seen all of the ups and downs, but competition-wise it is one I have enjoyed the most in my career. My motto is to dream big, and even bigger if you can. What we have done this season already feels like one of the highs, but I don’t want to stop here.’ Wolff (below) called for calm ahead of the next race in Austin, saying: ‘Freak incidents happen and a DNF or bad result suddenly wipes out a large chunk of your points. ‘I know from a probability standpoint it doesn’t look as if we will lose it, but this is motor racing and anything can happen. ‘I don’t even want to think about him breaking a finger. I don’t want to dwell too much on that kind of scenario in my comments now either because it is bad karma. ‘Let’s just get it done. Let’s go to Austin, have a strong race weekend, and hopefully seal the championship.’