- Mercedes
Rosberg: Title outlook has not changed
Nico Rosberg says his optimism about winning the world championship has not diminished despite no longer having control over the outcome of the title battle with Lewis Hamilton.
Rosberg could win the remaining races - including the double-weighted Abu Dhabi finale - but still lose the championship if Mercedes team-mate Hamilton finishes second in both. With 24 points the gap to Hamilton, Rosberg will need to rely on something happening to Hamilton or Abu Dhabi's controversial double points to win the championship, but he has already said he is not daunted by the prospect of the latter.
When reminded at the Thursday press conference in Brazil he was not a fan of double points at the start of the season, Rosberg joked: "I love it now. Brilliant idea."
Rosberg says he would not care about what others would say if he needed double points to secure the title.
"I wouldn't respond. Everybody can have their opinion and in sport it is the points that count in the end and then of course you can debate who deserved it more or less. That is always going to be the case ... It's clear I need to rely on something happening. It is not enough for me to win [the next two races], unfortunately that is the way it is. But anyway, in sport so much can happen so I am still very optimistic."
Since the controversial collision between Hamilton and Rosberg in Belgium the Mercedes pair have had contrasting fortunes, with the Brit winning every race since. Rosberg has lost the lead of the championship in that time but he does not think the events of Spa changed the complexion of the title fight.
"It's been a less rich run of form [than from Monaco to Hockenheim]. Lewis has done a little bit of a better job since then. That is it, pretty simple. But as I say - still two races. I don't think anything has changed. It was an intense battle before and it still is an intense battle now. I don't know his exact opinion on things, but for me nothing has changed since then."
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