By alley - Oct 18, 2017, 1:45 PM ET

Hamilton wary of conservative approach

Lewis Hamilton believes it would be detrimental if he changes his approach to this weekend's United States Grand Prix despite the drivers' championship being within reach.

The Briton took the championship lead for the first time this season at the Italian Grand Prix, and a run of four wins in the past five races – coupled with two retirements for Sebastian Vettel – have allowed him to open up a 59 point advantage. Hamilton can theoretically wrap up the championship in Austin, but is guaranteed the title if he finishes in the top four in each of the remaining four races.

Despite such a comfortable lead, Hamilton says recent results have shown he is already taking the right approach to the title run-in, and he is wary being more conservative could cause problems.

"To be honest, there's not really any need for me to change the approach," Hamilton said. "The points are still what you go out there to achieve, but also you try and look after your car. I just don't think there's any need to make any changes. I'm not really particularly taking crazy risks in order to be in the position I'm in.

"I think we're just going to try and continue to do what we're doing. Of course, we want to try and look after the car and the engine, but I'm already doing that throughout the races so there's not really much more I can do. And I think if sometimes you come off the gas a little bit, you actually cause yourself more trouble than you need."

Hamilton attributes his current situation to Mercedes' reliability record compared to Ferrari, with Vettel losing points in the championship race in both Malaysia and Japan due to issues.

"I could only have dreamed of having this kind of gap," he said. "Ferrari have put on such a great challenge all year long. All I can really say is that I have to put it down to my team. They've done a phenomenal job, reliability has really been on point. They are just so meticulous and that's really why we have the reliability we have and the results we have been having."