'Motivated' Lewis Hamilton ready for final flyaways as title fight nears endgame

Lewis Hamilton says the fact he remains firmly in the championship hunt despite the trials and tribulations of his season is a source of “huge motivation” for the final flyaway rounds with the Mercedes driver first aiming to turn around his recent fortunes at the Singapore GP this weekend.

The Briton’s victory last time out at Monza, the traditional end to the European phase of the season, trimmed his title deficit to team-mate Nico Rosberg to 22 points, less than the equivalent of a race victory. With six races across four different continents to come over the final two months of the season, the battle to be crowned 2014 World Champion is therefore still very much open despite the German driver having hitherto led the standings for all but one race.

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The all-Mercedes duel recommences on the streets of Marina Bay in Singapore this weekend at F1’s original, and most spectacular, night-time race, an event both the Brackley team’s drivers have in the past performed well at, Hamilton winning for McLaren in 2009 and Rosberg finishing second for Williams in the maiden event the year before.

However, since triumphing there five years ago Hamilton has twice retired and twice finished fifth. Indeed, the Briton's DNF for mechanical reasons from 2012 while leading has since been regarded as a seminal moment in the 29-year-old’s career given it is after that race he decided to split with McLaren to join Mercedes.

Hamilton, though, is feeling in the mood to add a second Singapore win to his collection and continue to chip away at Rosberg’s championship advantage.

“It was a good feeling to finally get back on the top step at Monza - especially after another tough start to the race," he said.

“Obviously, with Nico coming second I haven't been able to close the gap too much - but there's still plenty of points to be won and I'm glad to have taken a step forwards. Despite the highs and lows, I'm still well and truly in the hunt for the Championship and that is something that gives me huge motivation for the final six races - starting in Singapore.

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“It's a street circuit and I love street circuits. I won there in 2009 which was a really special experience, plus I had a podium - which should really have been a win - at the first race in 2008. My luck hasn't been great at this circuit since then but hopefully that will change next weekend.”

Having made a mistake under pressure two weeks ago to let Hamilton in for the Briton’s sixth win of the campaign, Rosberg heads east aiming to regain some of the championship momentum which he undoubtedly lost to his team-mate at Monza.

The title leader has, however, stressed: “Even though it didn't work out quite the way I'd hoped, there were still plenty of positives to take away from Monza.

“Once again our Silver Arrow looked super quick compared to our rivals and hopefully we can carry that right through to the end of the season. Of course, I was disappointed to drop points to my team-mate in the Championship battle - but I still have the lead and I'm determined to hold on to it.”

The 2014 Singapore GP is live only on Sky Sports F1 this weekend, with our coverage beginning with Practice from 10.45am on Friday.