- Mercedes
Rosberg: I have the mental edge over Hamilton
Nico Rosberg thinks he now has the mental edge in the Mercedes garage after building a 22-point gap over team-mate and title rival Lewis Hamilton in the championship.
Rosberg, who won the season-opener in Australia, ended a four-race winning streak for Hamilton by taking the chequered flag in Monaco, before avoiding the retirement his team-mate suffered on his way to second in Canada as Mercedes hit trouble. Though the title fight is expected to remain a close one between the pair all season, Rosberg believes the last two races have tipped the balance back in his direction.
"If your team-mate has three or four wins in a row that's obviously going to strengthen his position," Rosberg told the Press Association. "So it was really important to bring that run to an end because psychology is a big part of sports. If you have those results behind you, like I do now, it gives you that little bit extra, that little bit of an edge, so it does help. It's important."
Rosberg gave up the lead on the penultimate lap to eventual winner Daniel Ricciardo in Canada, and he says the team is viewing the weekend as an opportunity lost given its significant advantage over the rest of the field.
"It's a work in progress. We've been good with reliability, but we have had a few problems now, so we have to keep on going and make sure it's 100%, but of course it's never easy.
"It sucks because our car is fast enough to win every race, so coming away from Canada without the win was a big disappointment for our team. We need to bounce back in Austria and finish one-two in every race given the car we have."
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