Lewis Hamilton says “every race is a must-win” as his title battle with Max Verstappen heads into its climax.

He said: “Their pace was phenomenal in the last race. They’ve had a strong car all year. They’ve had the strongest car. You can see.”

And the task of overhauling Verstappen was “as steep as it can be”, he added.

Verstappen has won the last two races for Red Bull, in the USA and Mexico, as well as taking four victories in the seven races since the sport’s summer break, and nine of the 18 that have been held so far this year.

Hamilton has won only once in the last eight races. The seven-time champion said he expected Red Bull to head into the weekend at the historic Interlagos circuit, where Verstappen won the last event held in 2019, as favourite.

“Last time here they were incredibly strong,” Hamilton said. “And I anticipate they will be tough to beat.”

About his and Mercedes’ season as a whole, Hamilton said: “We have done as good as we could. We are pushing as hard as we can.”

Verstappen said he “100%” expected Mercedes to be more competitive this weekend than they were in Mexico, and he insisted he was having no difficulty with thoughts about the championship becoming a distraction.

“If you don’t think about it, you don’t have any dreams or whatever,” Verstappen said.

“I am just really focused. In four races, a lot of things can happen. We are looking good but things can change very quickly.

“I have had a bigger lead already in the championship and it disappeared in two race weekends. We have to do the best we can. My approach every single weekend is the same.”

The final ‘sprint’ for 2021

The Sao Paulo Grand Prix is the last of three events being run to the new ‘sprint’ format this season.

Qualifying moves from Saturday to Friday, to set the grid for a sprint qualifying session on Saturday, a shorter race one-third the distance of a grand prix that sets the grid for the main event on Sunday.

There are points for the top three finishers in the sprint – three for the winner, two for second and one for third – but Hamilton said the availability of more points over the weekend worked both ways.

“The sprint doesn’t play into you hands if they’re quicker,” he said. “We have to concentrate on trying to get the car in to the right [set-up]window, which is not easy.

“This is not a very good track for overtaking but it is close to one of the hardest places for overtaking, on the edge of the list of one of the hardest of the year.”

Teams have agreed in principle with F1 that the number of sprint events next year will be doubled, to six.

Bosses are discussing potential format changes, among them awarding more points for the sprint and ensuring the pole position winner is designated as the fastest driver in qualifying rather than the winner of the sprint.

Longer term, F1 and a majority of teams are in favour of separating out the sprint completely, making Friday qualifying set the grid for the grand prix and using reverse championship positions as the grid for the sprint. But this does not yet have sufficient agreement for immediate introduction in 2022.

A tough night for the teams

Teams are facing a race against time to get their cars ready for the first practice session on Friday after a delay in some freight travelling from last weekend’s race in Mexico to Brazil.

Some teams were more badly affected than others – Ferrari, McLaren, Alfa Romeo and Haas received their cars only midway through Thursday.

The delay – caused by problems with weather in Mexico that led to the freight being diverted via Miami, where further problems arose – is not expected to prevent teams running in practice.

Governing body the FIA has removed the curfew that limits the hours teams can work overnight to ensure everything can be prepared for Friday, when the first session starts at 15:30 GMT (12:30 local time).