Rosberg: Late lap keeps me in victory hunt

Nico Rosberg says his final lap in qualifying which secured him a front row start in the Mexican Grand Prix keeps him in with a good chance of victory.

Lewis Hamilton has appeared to have the edge over Rosberg throughout the weekend so far and took pole position by a quarter of a second on Saturday. However, Rosberg secured second place with his final run in Q3 having been fourth prior to that, and the championship leader says it has boosted his hopes for the race.

REPORT: Hamilton takes pole in Mexico as Rosberg recovers to P2

When it was put to him that his final lap was brilliant to jump up to second place, Rosberg replied: “Brilliant is two and a half tenths from Lewis, so Lewis’ lap was brilliant, not so much mine.

“I put it together when it counted in the end so I’m relatively pleased with that to definitely make sure that I’m on the front row. It’s not pole position of course but still that gives me a great chance for tomorrow anyway.”

And Rosberg admits it has taken him longer than Hamilton to feel comfortable with his car in Mexico this season compared to last year.

“It just took a bit longer this weekend to find the way, just generally with tyre temperatures with it being on the cold side all weekend. So it’s a bit nervous out there and just to find the way with that took a bit longer but I got there in the end so that’s OK.”

While second place in the final three races would secure him the title, Rosberg says he is more focused on beating Hamilton than defending from Max Verstappen behind.

“For me I’m looking forward. There’s Lewis in front of me and he’s in the way for me to win the race. So that’s what I’m going for, looking forward and going for it, trying to win the race.”

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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.