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F1 Brazilian GP: Rosberg remains poised as F1 title goes to a showdown

Nico Rosberg says he is prepared for a 'great battle' between himself and Lewis Hamilton heading to the title deciding round of the 2016 Formula 1 World Championship after maintaining form in the Brazilian Grand Prix.

A third straight win for Hamilton at Interlagos has seen the title chaser close the gap to Rosberg further, but with 12 points still between the pair heading to the final round in Abu Dhabi the German needs only a third place finish at the finale to assure him of the title.

Maintaining his well versed tactic of approaching the race weekend 'from zero', Rosberg remains upbeat that he can clinch the title from the front despite trailing Hamilton in the USA, Mexico and now Brazil.

"It's going to be a great, exciting race weekend, a great battle for sure. I would like to win the race and that's what I'm going there... I'm going to try and do that for sure.

"I've had good experience there in the past but of course that's not going to help this year. You know we all start from zero this year, every time we go to a different track. Yeah, feeling good so let's see."

While Hamilton enjoyed a fairly trouble-free afternoon at a sodden Interlagos, Rosberg endured a more testing time in the treacherous conditions. However, while he came under pressure for second from Max Verstappen, the Red Bull driver's strategic error would see him finish comfortably ahead of the Dutchman.

"I was out there to try and win the race so for sure especially in the first part of the race my mind-set was 'What can I do to get back forwards again?' But at the same time I was realistic about the fact that it was going to be very difficult to get back in front of him because he was on the same pace to us.

"I actually was happy when he boxed because I understood at the time that it was just a real gamble for the race win. That's what they were doing, but I thought it was not the right thing to do." 

Zdroj: crash.net