Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMercedes

Hamilton gap 'definitely not the real picture' - Rosberg

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Nico Rosberg says the advantage he held over Lewis Hamilton in FP2 at the Brazilian Grand Prix is "definitely not the real picture".

Hamilton had been half a second clear of Rosberg in the first practice session at Interlagos, but the German turned the situation round to enjoy a similar margin over his team-mate on Friday afternoon. While encouraged by how his own weekend has started, Rosberg admits there were external factors which played a part in the advantage over Hamilton in FP2.

“It was OK, a good start to the weekend," Rosberg said. "OK the gap to Lewis is definitely not the real picture because he got his engine settings wrong and there is a big lap time in that, but still it is a decent start and I am pleased with the direction that I’ve gone with the car.”

Hamilton expects 'close' fight with Rosberg

And Rosberg says all drivers are having to learn new ways of finding lap time in Brazil due to new kerbs and a difficult track surface.

“I’m feeling OK. It’s always a challenge to adapt to a new circuit and especially this one which is completely different somehow to last year. They have changed the kerbs so you can’t attack them in the same way.

"The asphalt has broken up a lot since last year because of the sports cars that have been here some months ago. So going through those corners where the asphalt has broken up you just lose all the grip, so we had to be creative today and find some new lines and some new ways of attacking the corners so it was an interesting day.”

FP2 REPORT: Rosberg turns the tables on Hamilton

AS IT HAPPENED: Brazilian Grand Prix FP2

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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.