Hamilton admits Brazil could be his last chance to win in a while

The 2008 Formula 1 world champion will end his career-long association with McLaren after the Interlagos event to join Mercedes next season.

Hamilton was victorious at Austin last weekend, but acknowledges that Mercedes has a lot of ground to make up at present. His 2013 employer has not scored any points since September's Singapore Grand Prix.

"I never know when I'm going to have a car quite as good as this one, so I really hope this weekend I can utilise that," said Hamilton.

"I hope we're competitive enough to fight the Red Bulls."

The Briton said that bowing out of McLaren at Interlagos would be particularly emotional given that he had lost the world title to Kimi Raikkonen there in his rookie season in 2007, and then claimed it a year later in a dramatic last-lap denouement.

"We've got a great history together. We won and we lost the world championship here," said Hamilton.

"We've been through the highest high and the lowest low together, but we always pulled through it."

He conceded it was taking time for his McLaren departure to sink in.

"When it's on my mind a lot, it's very, very surreal. Very, very strange. Very, very sad in many ways," Hamilton said. "I just want to make sure I enjoy every moment."

He added: "It is the end of an era. The end of a great chapter in my life. Hopefully I'll have a good second chapter, or second book almost, to my life.

"But this is a very special one and I really hope I can do it for McLaren [this weekend]."