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Rosberg out to 'annoy' Vettel

Nico Rosberg wants to be annoying © Getty Images

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• German Grand Prix

• Drivers:
• Nico Rosberg

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Nico Rosberg insists he is not thinking about the title at the moment but that his main objective is to upset Sebastian Vettel's dominance at the top of the standings

Rosberg has won two of the last three races this season and is now 50 points shy of Vettel in the drivers' championship. But rather than speculate on whether he can close the gap, he is just thinking about upsetting Vettel's title bid.

"Short-term I just want to annoy Sebastian and Red Bull race-to-race by being ahead of them," he said at the German Grand Prix. "That's the most important thing, to be ahead of them and other teams and try to win more races. That's what we're focused on at the moment."

Asked if he considered himself a title contender, Rosberg said: "It's too early to say that. We're really focusing on getting our momentum, keeping it going and concentrating on one race to the next to get the most out of them - just as we have done in the last couple of races. Then we will see in a few races time.

"It's a really nice time in my career. It's new; I've never had a car as quick as this one is now and never been able to go out in qualifying knowing I can fight for a position right at the front. And now the car is getting better and better so the chances are higher on Sunday that I can keep my qualifying position. It's very motivating."

However, Rosberg thinks the tyre changes for this weekend's German Grand Prix and the Hungarian Grand Prix at the end of the month will offer an opportunity for Mercedes to make progress.

"It's very likely that it's going to have an impact. Performance will be different in qualifying and the race so it will be interesting and it's possible it will mix thing sup a little bit. But it's also an opportunity to understand it better than other people and try to make the most from it.

Asked whether Mercedes would be at an advantage on Pirelli's new specification rear tyres this weekend as a result of its private test earlier this year, he said: "There's no advantage. We don't know if we ran this tyre. You'll have to ask Pirelli."

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