Nico Rosberg is targeting a slipstream from team-mate Lewis Hamilton to try and take the lead at the start of the Mexican Grand Prix.
Hamilton was comfortably quicker than Rosberg throughout qualifying and took pole position by a quarter of a second from his team-mate. Both Mercedes drivers will start on soft tyres, with a 900-metre run down to Turn 1 likely to offer Rosberg with his best opportunity to take the lead.
Asked if he's worried about Red Bull starting on the supersofts, Rosberg replied: "I’m not concerned.
"I had a great start in Austin on the softs, just as good as the guys on the super-softs. And it’s a long run down to Turn 1 so that should be an advantage for the guy starting second.
“I hope to get a good slipstream off Lewis and try to get first place before Turn 1.”
Hamilton, however, does not expect Rosberg to receive a big advantage from the slipstream having been in his team-mate's position last season.
“The tow is very, very minimal here," Hamilton said. "You saw last year I was right behind him and it didn’t make hardly any difference. The tow affect is much smaller here than it is in other circuits, but it’s still there and that’s why I’ve got to get a good start.”
With Rosberg jumping from fourth to second on his final qualifying lap, Hamilton says he was expecting the championship leader to get close to him despite struggling for much of the weekend.
“I wasn’t really focusing on Nico, the whole weekend I’ve had a lot of pace. I think people for sure would have been surprised because he was quite far behind for the majority of the run but he has the same setup as me so I knew at some stage he would be able to get it into a nice window if he puts his sectors together so I wasn’t really surprised. That’s what the car can do.”
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