Lewis Hamilton has said that he faces no risks heading into Sunday's Mexican Grand Prix as he attempts to clinch his fourth world championship title.
Hamilton only managed to qualify in third place for Mercedes while his championship rival, Sebastian Vettel, claimed pole position for Ferrari.
A fifth place finish or higher in Mexico would guarantee a fourth title victory for Hamilton while Vettel has to win on Sunday to keep his championship hopes alive.
"Those guys did a great job obviously very quick," said Hamilton post-qualifying, referring to Vettel and Max Verstappen who qualified ahead of him. "I gave it everything I could. Honestly the last lap could have been a couple of tenths quicker but still wouldn’t have been able to match these guys.
"We’re still in the run for the win, we’ll see what happens with Max, but I’m hoping I get to have a battle at least with one of them."
When asked if he had to take any risks against Vettel and Verstappen when heading into turn 1 tomorrow, Hamilton ruled out any risks that he faces.
"What risk?" asked the Briton. "At the moment there is no risk to take, if I get a good start I’ll go for it, but at the moment it’s an unknown.
"Generally that’s the only place you can do it, easy one stop strategy, can’t overtake 1.4s delta I thin, going to be a train, but if you get a good start or if I’m able to be close enough in the pit stop maybe, who knows."
With Verstappen under investigation for impeding Valtteri Bottas, Hamilton could line up in second on the grid which would put him alongside his season-long rival on the long run down to the first turn.