Hamilton goes on charm offensive

Hamilton, 31, was thrust back into the media spotlight just a fortnight on from his peculiar performance in Japan, where he attracted criticism for fooling around on his mobile phone during the official pre-race press conference.

The Briton refused to take questions from the written media before a stumbled start in the race saw him finish only third as Nico Rosberg sauntered to his ninth victory of the campaign. As such, Hamilton arrived in Austin 33 points adrift of his Mercedes team-mate with only four races remaining.

However, Hamilton’s appearance yesterday was worlds apart from his outing in Suzuka, where he spent the majority of the televised media session on Snapchat.

Here, Hamilton answered the questions directed at him in a courteous, polite manner. He even addressed the floor by saying “good morning” and delivered a “bless you” to a journalist who sneezed.

“I am in the position right now where there are still a lot of points available. So I’m going to give it everything I’ve got and still have the belief that anything is possible,” said Hamilton.

“I will try and take it like a man if Nico wins the championship. You can’t win them all. Look at all the world champions in the past that have won championships and lost championships. It is part of the game.

“Once it’s decided and it happens, all I can do about it is shape the future, which is the next year. So life will move on, we’ll go into next season and, hopefully, come back stronger.”

Hamilton also blocked a number of journalists on Twitter after the Japanese Grand Prix but the Englishman said he is not solely responsible for his social media output.

“I don’t actually manage every single part of my own social media,” said Hamilton, who has nearly four million followers on Twitter. “I have a couple of people that do, and my general approach is if you see someone talking smack, cut it.

“I guess I had flown back to Asia, and I got a message later. I don’t know who had been blocked. I don’t have a lot of time to go online and do that.

“I think it’s a lot of people, not just media. It was a blocking spree.”

LEWIS Hamilton insists “anything is possible” in the title race as the world champion turned on a charm offensive ahead of this week’s US Grand Prix.

Nico Rosberg