Lewis Hamilton: 'Muhammad Ali inspires me in championship'

Hamilton said he was drawing on Ali's famous "rope-a-dope" victory against George Foreman in 1974 in closing the 29-point gap to the German."I think about Muhammad Ali," he told BBC Sport."He sat on the rope and let [Foreman] have the upper hand until he decided it was the right time to turn it around."Ahead of Sunday's British Grand Prix, he added: "I'm hoping I can do a similar thing. He inspires me in that fight."Hamilton feels it is "important to be ahead" of Rosberg this weekend - the Englishman has finished second to his rival in two of the last three races and retired from the other."I am going to do everything to be out front," said Hamilton, who has had two retirements this year while Rosberg has finished every race, winning three grands prix and finishing second five times."Winning your home grand prix is one of the greatest experiences you can have as a driver."I'm aware [the title] doesn't have to be won this weekend. I'm hopeful I don't have any more bad luck with the non-finishes and it's time I really need to turn things around."Hamilton has not won at Silverstone since 2008, when he dominated in wet conditions to take one of the greatest victories of his career.The Briton's former McLaren team-mate Jenson Button said: "The pressure's on Lewis. He's in the best car. Come on; make it happen. For myself it's going to be tricky to get on the top step."It would be amazing to have a British victory, the crowd would go wild. Lewis has got a shot. Let's hope it happens."All the drivers enjoy the British Grand Prix because of the flowing, fast Silverstone circuit and the huge crowds - 80,000 spectators are expected to attend practice on Friday, with about 95,000 due for Saturday's qualifying and 120,000 for the race on Sunday.But Rosberg joked that he was "very sorry" that he would be trying everything he could to ruin their day and prevent Hamilton recording a home victory on Sunday."I definitely am going to try," the German said. "It's not going to be easy here at home for Lewis but I will do my best and I'm optimistic."Mercedes have won seven of the eight races so far this season, only losing in Canada last month when they ran into a rare reliability problem, and Hamilton and Rosberg are again expected to fight a private battle for victory.World champions Red Bull should be their closest challengers, despite a poor race in Austria two weeks ago.Australia's Daniel Ricciardo is the highest Red Bull driver in the championship in third place, 82 points behind Rosberg. He said the team believed they knew what had gone wrong in Austria.Ricciardo, who took his maiden career victory in Canada, said the team were expecting a better weekend at Silverstone. The plethora of high-speed corners suits the aerodynamic excellence of the car and the power disadvantage of the Renault compared to the Mercedes engine is less of a handicap."If we can be the strong package we normally are here it can definitely bring us close to the other teams," said Ricciardo, who finished eighth in Austria."All going well, I think we should be the ones behind Mercedes. I think they'll still be quickest but whether that's half a second or two or three tenths [of a second] we'll have to find out."If we get it all right we can be within a couple of three tenths from them."Ricciardo is in a close battle with Ferrari's Fernando Alonso for best of the rest in the championship behind Hamilton and Rosberg.But although Ferrari are in a similar situation to Red Bull, with a good car let down by a poor engine, the Spanish double world champion was pessimistic about his chances of a podium finish.Alonso added that he felt it was unlikely he and Ferrari would taste victory this season - which would make it the first time since 2009 the 32-year-old had not won at least once in a year's racing, and only the second time since 2003."If I'm honest with you, I would say no, it's not possible to win this year," Alonso said. "It's what I think."But I thought in 2011 it was impossible to win a race and we won here at Silverstone."Anything can happen in this sport, so we try to do the best we can and if one opportunity arrives we will take it to win a race, but it is extremely difficult to win with the performance we are showing, the developing we can have with this year's car but we will try."Alonso said he expected Williams drivers Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa, who locked out the front row and finished the race third and fourth in Austria, would again be strong in Silverstone."They will be a threat," Alonso said.(BBC)Bakudaily.az