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F1 Japanese GP: Race-by-race Rosberg keeping title out of mind

Nico Rosberg says he will continue his method of simply approaching races individually rather than allowing the prospect of winning a first Formula 1 world title enter his mind as victory in the Japanese Grand Prix saw increase his overall advantage.

Coming into the Suzuka weekend with a 23 point lead over Lewis Hamilton, his win coupled to Hamilton's run to third place has seen this swell to 33 points with four races - USA, Mexico, Brazil and Abu Dhabi - remaining and 100 points available.

Meaning Hamilton cannot rely solely on himself in the final races to secure the title should Rosberg follow him in second place, though the German's odds of clinching a maiden world title have been slashed with his fourth win in five races, he maintains he won't approach the coming races with the title in his mind.

"It's not hard [to maintain race-by-race attitude] because Lewis is my team-mate and he is always going to be fighting and tough to beat, so it's not hard. The best reasoning [for keeping it] is that it's actually working quite well, so why change something if it's working quite well with the approach that I've got at the moment.

"I'm just happy to win the Suzuka race. I don't feel relief. I feel excited about winning the Suzuka race."

Reflecting on the race itself, with Hamilton terrible getaway giving Rosberg the chance to control the pace from the front over Max Verstappen, he admits winning in Suzuka gives him a special buzz.

"The weekend went well from the get go and I love this track, it's exciting and it's a big challenge out there because you can't put a foot wrong anywhere and it's one of those old-school legendary tracks. I felt at home straight away and I was able to push all the way through the weekend and really we got everything right so it was a really good weekend for me and I was very happy with that.

"I was just managing the race really because there is no need to pull out 15 seconds or something, the important thing is to keep a healthy gap and that's it really. That's what I was driving to and it was the last race on my engine cycle -- I'll have a new one in Austin -- and that also played into it today." 

Zdroj: crash.net