Spa collision moved Lewis Hamilton on to "war footing" against Nico Rosberg Lewis Hamilton said he declared war on his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg after being taken out by the German on the second lap of the Belgian Grand Prix. The British driver made the bold statement after winning the US Grand Prix, his fifth victory in succession and a run that has resulted in him building a 24-point lead over Rosberg in the Formula One world championship. According to Hamilton, the ruthless desire to win he has shown in recent races can be traced back to Spa in August. He said: "I had those four early wins [from Malaysia to Spain] and then there was a bad patch from Monaco onwards. And then Spa was like, "I'm going to turn this up. I'm going to have to turn this up. This means war," that kind of feeling. Reflecting on it, I took that energy and turned that negative bomb into a positive. The crash happened when Rosberg, attempting a clumsy overtaking move, hit Hamilton and lost part of his front wing. He finished second to Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo but Hamilton sustained a puncture in the incident and was forced to retire. He was furious and accused Rosberg of deliberately crashing into him "to prove a point." Mercedes held a team meeting and reprimanded Rosberg, who apologised to Hamilton for wrecking his race. Many felt Rosberg was guilty of little more than maladroitness at the time and a feisty determination not to again come off second-best to a driver with greater skills in wheel-to-wheel combat. The same experts feel Rosberg was more culpable during qualifying in Monaco during May. With only a minute of the session remaining Rosberg, who had set the fastest time, locked up as he entered Mirabeau on his final lap and went on to the escape road. Hamilton, on a faster lap, one that would almost certainly have snatched pole, was forced to abort his effort as yellow flags were waved. Despite his declaration, and the fact he has now won 10 races to Rosberg's four, Hamilton denies he has the psychological advantage going into Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix. "I'm not sure that's really the case," he said. Nico comes in and qualifies on pole. Every weekend he resets. He's massively strong mentally. He's still there, still fighting. Hamilton would be the favourite to win his second world championship were it not for the double points awarded to the winner of the final race in Abu Dhabi on 23 November. "If the points were the same for the next two races I would feel in a much more opportunistic position but I know it's very much still open," Hamilton said. It is what it is. There's no point being upset about it. I've driven the best I've ever driven this year. Giving his views on the battle for the F1 title, Rosberg said: "Championship-wise it has changed in that it is now getting more difficult. On Sunday it was just driving better that was missing for some part of the race. In the end I was driving OK but it was too late. He [Hamilton] ran me out. I don't really care about double points as long as I have one point more at the chequered flag in Abu Dhabi. I don't care why or how.