Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMercedes

Rosberg expecting five-way fight for victory

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Nico Rosberg believes up to five drivers have a chance of winning this afternoon’s Mexican Grand Prix.

Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull have been relatively closely matched throughout the weekend amid tricky conditions at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. With Sebastian Vettel just over 0.3s slower than Rosberg in qualifying and Ferrari traditionally more competitive in race trim, Rosberg is expecting a challenge from his rival for second in the drivers’ standings and also from Daniil Kvyat and Daniel Ricciardo who start fourth and fifth respectively.

“I’m definitely expecting Vettel and also possibly the two Red Bulls to be quite quick on the long runs,” Rosberg said. “The top five might have a good chance.”

With both the drivers’ and constructors’ championships now decided, when it was put to Rosberg he could race Hamilton harder he says his motivation to win is as high as ever.

“Title out of the way was a big disappointment for me but now I’m here and I want to win the race. It does not change that much. I’m super motivated with three races to go, on pole, I’ll try to win the race and that’s it, beating everybody else who’s out there. It did change something after Austin but now it’s full attack again.”

REPORT: Rosberg beats Hamilton to Mexican GP pole

AS IT HAPPENED: Mexican Grand Prix - Qualifying

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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.