Lewis Hamilton says he is feeling "more relaxed than I've ever been" as the 2021 title battle reaches its climax. Mercedes driver Hamilton trails Red Bull rival Max Verstappen by eight points heading into this weekend's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, where the Dutchman can secure the championship if results go his way . However, off the back of wins in Brazil and Qatar, Hamilton was in a confident mood when speaking to accredited media, including RacingNews365.com , at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit on Thursday.
"I'm more relaxed than I've ever been"
Hamilton is pushing for what would be a record-breaking eighth world title and claimed that his current fight is easier to deal with than previous situations. He explained: "It's different in one sense, because we've got two incredibly close teams. It's different because as a team we're fighting in uncharted territory. Nobody's ever won eight titles, team or driver - so that's quite fresh and new. "On the other side, I'm more relaxed than I've ever been. I think because I've been around a long time. "It's not my first... I remember how it was with my first championship, and even my second and third, the sleepless nights and all those sorts of things. [I'm] obviously a lot more sure about myself and just apply myself better than ever before. "I know I can't change anything from the past, but all I can do is prepare the best I can for what's up ahead of me. And I 100% know I have."
"A lot of unknowns" for Jeddah
Hamilton is looking forward to the challenge of the Jeddah street track, which comprises 27 corners and is set to boast an average speed of more than 250km/h. "I'm excited to be getting in the car and grateful that we have to these two races to fight it out," added Hamilton. "It's difficult to know [what to expect this weekend]. I think we prepared the best we can. I think people who are watching hear that we have all these simulations, but we don't know what the track grip level is going to be until we get out there - it looks quite dirty. "It's not far off a Silverstone kind of surface. You've got these long, long straights, the corners... Everything's a little bit different to the simulator, because a lot of those tracks have these perfect scans, whereas this one's kind of a guesstimate of what the track's gonna be like. "So there's a lot of unknowns and none of us will know until we get out on the track tomorrow."
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