Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team ©
In his interview in the post race press conference yesterday, Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg reckons his Brazilian GP win was never in doubt as he was able to attack and “control the gap” to team-mate Lewis Hamilton.
Rosberg claimed his first race win since July’s German GP when he took the chequered flag at the Interlagos circuit on Sunday. Starting from pole position, Rosberg maintained a two second advantage over his team-mate that only once looked threatened.
While Rosberg was in the pits for the second time, Hamilton found some added pace and put in a fastest lap only to spin and drop back. And although Hamilton closed to within a second of Rosberg in the final ten laps, it never once looked as if he could challenge for the lead.
In his interview in the post race conference yesterday, Rosberg was happy to have had a great weekend and had pace in the car to take the fight to his championship rival. Rosberg stated the following:-
‘It was a great weekend. The whole weekend I’ve been feeling comfortable in the car, I was able to attack and control the gap to Lewis in the race so that worked out great.’
It is clear that Rosberg has had a successful weekend and has dominated all the way through. He has had the pace and the car behind him in order to achieve this and he was rewarded with his efforts with the victory yesterday despite a close battle with Hamilton in the race.
His victory means the two Championship protagonists head into the season finale with just 17 points separating them. With 50 to play for in Abu Dhabi, Rosberg says further on in his interview that he intends pushing hard with the aim being to add another win in his tally and hopefully a first World title. Rosberg added the following:-
‘There is still a lot to play for and now I am just hoping to keep this going. It was important for me just to improve. I didn’t do a good job in the race in Austin and today I managed to do that. I am happy about that. This is a big step in the right direction.’
As Rosberg says, there is a lot to gain in Abu Dhabi in a few weeks time and he will be ensuring that he keeps up this performance from Brazil in order to keep himself in the fight for the title. Even though Rosberg did not perform well in Austin, he managed to improve this weekend and this is as he says a good step in the right direction.
But overall, Rosberg may have been the better driver this weekend, deserved to win after a dominant performance all the way through and closed the gap down to Hamilton to 17 points as we head into the final race in Abu Dhabi in a few weeks time.
But Rosberg knows that anything can happen in the final race of the season and with the double points rule in place, this could make or break Rosberg’s chances of securing the title. But all he can do is build upon what he has achieved in Brazil this weekend and throw everything he has to clinch the championship away from Hamilton. But who will be the Formula One Drivers Champion of 2014; will it be Rosberg or will it be Hamilton? We shall have to wait and see but whoever it will be will deserve it without a shadow of a doubt.
