Nico Rosberg downplays title 'match point' scenario in Mexican GP

Nico Rosberg can win the World Championship with a victory in Mexico City, but inevitably the German has played down the possibility.

Rosberg’s 26-point advantage over Lewis Hamilton means that if he wins and his rival fails to score, he will be 51 points ahead with only 50 to be won in the last two races.

“Of course I’m aware of that, it’s an obvious calculation that everyone is telling me,” he said. “It’s great, I’m excited to be in the championship battle at the end of the year, it’s awesome. I couldn’t ask for more at the moment. But for me the approach is keep it simple, it works best, it’s how I feel best, so look for the race win, concentrate on what’s at hand for the weekend. I’ll go to Mexico fully focused, and that’s it. Very simple.”

Rosberg lost out at the start in Austin when Daniel Ricciardo managed to get down the inside into Turn One, but later a stop under the Virtual Safety Car allowed him to jump the Red Bull driver.

“I got away really well. Not quite enough to give it a go down the inside, so Lewis would just have closed, so no point in trying that, so I just went round the outside. All was looking good, actually, I just struggled for a bit of grip then out of the corner and Daniel had that extra grip, and that’s it. We knew that that was going to be a risk with that supersoft. Then flat out after that and it worked out of course with the VSC.

“I just feel that it’s a pity that it didn’t work out with a win this weekend. I was going for that. It would have been awesome here in America but it didn’t work out. Lewis did a great job this weekend, all the way through, qualifying and race so it just wasn’t to be. I’ll live with second place now and next race is another great opportunity.”