Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMercedes

'I will always come back' - Rosberg

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Nico Rosberg says he will not give up on the drivers' championship until it is mathematically impossible despite retiring from the Russian Grand Prix.

Having started from pole position, Rosberg complained of a problem with his throttle pedal in the opening laps after a safety car restart and retired having twice gone wide at the end of heavy braking zones. With Lewis Hamilton going on to win the race and Sebastian Vettel moving in to second place in the standings, Rosberg is now 73 points behind his team-mate with 100 still available.

Asked if the championship battle is over, Rosberg replied: "I don’t know, I don’t think about that.

"It is never over until the mathematics say it is over. Other than that I will always keep pushing, and I will always come back."

With Rosberg's race being ended by a stuck throttle, he admitted it was a safety concern for him but was convinced by the team he would always have braking abilities.

"For sure that is not a nice feeling, and in fact I was asking the team what I should do if it does happen. If I realised in braking that the throttle was sticking open. They told me that the cars have safety device in there, which will automatically noticed that and switch off. So that was a bit reassuring."

Hamilton close to title after Russian GP win

AS IT HAPPENED: Russian Grand Prix

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.