Hamilton confident of overhauling Nico

Lewis Hamilton is confident that he will be able to overhaul the 22-point deficit he has to Nico Rosberg in the Drivers’ Championship standings…

Lewis Hamilton is confident that he will have the opportunity of overhauling the 22-point deficit he has to Nico Rosberg in the Drivers’ Championship standings.

Rosberg had a 25 point lead over his Mercedes rival after the first race of the season in Australia, where he claimed the chequered flag and Hamilton was forced into an early retirement.

In the next four races, though, Hamilton outpaced his team-mate consistently and won in Malaysia, Bahrain, China and Spain to claim the championship lead for the first time this season.

A second place in Monaco saw Rosberg regain a narrow advantage, but after his second DNF of the season in Canada, Hamilton admitted he needs a run of victories to put the pressure back on the German.

“There is a long way to go. I caught up before and I’ll catch up again,” the 29-year-old told the BBC.

“I’m two DNFs down; that’s almost 50 points I’ve lost. I’m going to have to recover them somewhere else.

“[A run of wins] is what I’m going to have to do. But we’ve got lots of races ahead of us so let’s hope there is more good fortune to come in the future.”

Hamilton admitted that Mercedes were aware that they might suffer a set-back at some point during the race, but added that there was nothing he could do once his brakes failed.

“We knew as a team we had some issues some part through our second stint, but we thought we’d be OK to manage it,” the Brit added.

“I jumped him in the stop and I was thinking, wow finally what an amazing feeling and then suddenly the brakes failed. There was nothing I could do.

“Every point will [matter]. That’s two DNFs for me and none for Nico but these are learning experiences, we will learn as a team and get stronger.”