Rosberg aims to seize advantage over Hamilton

Nico Rosberg is focussed on turning the tables on his Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton this weekend at Spa.

Rosberg lost ground on Hamilton before the summer break and is now trailing the Briton by 19 points in the standings.

"It took a few days to digest Hockenheim as that was a big disappointment," Rosberg admitted.

But with Hamilton having to take a grid penalty for a new engine this weekend, Rosberg is determined to capitalise as much as possible on Hamilton's setback.

"I would love to have a great weekend and get the best out of it and win the race," he said. "I am aware of Lewis’ misfortune with the grid penalty and that will make the weekend less difficult for me because he is my direct rival.

"Nevertheless, it will still be a challenge because if we remember a few weeks ago I finished behind the Red Bulls so I still need to beat the opposition

"Even Lewis, you always need to reckon him because with a bit of luck, or safety cars in the right moment there is no reason he can’t come very far from back from the grid, especially at a track like this where you can overtake very easily."

The opportunity to make big in-roads into Hamilton's points advantage puts extra pressure on Rosberg to deliver when it matters most, but the Gernam driver says that he isn't anxious and will be treating this weekend just like any other.

"It doesn’t change the pressure I put myself under this weekend," he said. "I would like to win the race and the Red Bulls being stronger is going to be a bigger challenge this weekend to win the race. That is how my thinking goes.

"I am aware of how grateful I am for this opportunity because I remember what it was like to not be fighting for race wins so it is so much more exciting the way it is now to be able to get poles and race wins.

"The best moments of sport are to be winning races and fighting for wins. It is awesome, the emotions. It helps me be aware and grateful."

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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.