I won't settle for second place - Rosberg

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Nico Rosberg says he won't settle for second place at any of the remaining races even though he has the world championship battle in his own hands.

Following his victory in Japan, Rosberg can afford to finish second to team-mate Lewis Hamilton in the remaining four races in order to win the championship. With a 33-point advantage, Rosberg can even finish third in one race, but the championship leader says his only focus is on winning rather than altering his approach.

Asked about finishing second to Hamilton, Rosberg replied: “Of course, I’m aware of that.

"But I definitely don’t put any thought into that at all because as I’ve said I’m going for the win here this weekend, and that’s it. I’m not trying to bring home any second place, or anything as such."

When given the scenario of being second to Hamilton out of Turn 1 on Sunday, Rosberg insisted: "I’ll try and push for the win, 100%, all the way, until the chequered flag."

While Hamilton has a strong record in the United States - winning the championship in Austin last year after Rosberg made a mistake when leading - Rosberg says previous performances have no impact on his mindset.

“Even something like that, in Suzuka you told me exactly the same thing on Thursday, so it’s something I don’t think about because as we’ve seen so often this year it just has no importance.

“With the car I have I can win on any track against Lewis, so this weekend for me we are starting from scratch, going for a good battle out there, and it’s going to be difficult against him, as always.

“He’s going to be fully motivated as always, of course, and he’s ogoing to be at his best, I’m sure, it will be exciting, so let’s see.”

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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.