Merc boss Toto Wolff predicts "championship is going to the end"
Monday 25 July 2016 11:37, UK
Nico Rosberg has admitted his disappointment after falling behind Lewis Hamilton for the first time this season in the world championship race, but insists the battle is far from over.
Hamilton took a six-point lead in the standings following victory at the Hungarian GP on Sunday, passing Rosberg on turn one of the first lap before cruising to victory.
"I gave it everything in the race, I had super pace, really fast, and I was able to keep the pressure on Lewis all the time," said Rosberg on his YouTube channel.
"At times it seemed that he was struggling a little bit so I was just trying to make sure I pushed him as much as possible so he wears out his tyres or makes a mistake, but in the end he made a mistake and I came really close but it wasn't enough to get past.
"But that's the way it is, I've got to accept that and of course I've lost the championship lead now. But it doesn't really make a difference to me, I'm not counting points and there's still such a long way to go. [I've got to] now put this one behind me and there are a lot positives from the weekend again."
Rosberg, who had qualified on pole at the Hungaroring, also revealed he knew the race was lost early on after being passed by Hamilton into the first corner.
"The start was pretty good, but going into turn one Lewis was on the inside and he broke really deep, so he did well on that, and then [Daniel] Ricciardo was on the outside so I got stuck between the two of them and that's why I lost out and lost the win there really," he said.
"I was even third after turn one and I got second place back in turn two after getting [Ricciardo] on the inside returning the favour, but Lewis was already in front. So I already lost the win there and that was a big disappointment."
There was controversy during Sunday's race as Hamilton appeared at one stage to deliberately attempt to back-up Rosberg into Ricciardo's Red Bull.
Team boss Toto Wolff, however, denied the claims, insisting instead that Hamilton was just trying to manage his tyres.
"I'm sure [Hamilton] didn't want to back him up. The whole weekend we were discussing their need to be very cautious on the tyres," said Wolff in his post-race press conference.
"We weren't sure if it was a two stop or a three stop and if you hear the constant messaging that your tyres might not last then you want to manage them, and they managed them very well in the first stint on the super-softs, and then he brought on the softs, we didn't have any experience of those tyres, so he over-managed it probably.
"He had everything under control and he knew that Nico was behind him, he didn't realise that the train was approaching fast and that there was a different strategy behind him, so I guess it was the complete picture and for him it looked okay and that's why he took it easy."
Wolff also believes that the title race is far from over despite Hamilton taking the lead for the first time this season.
"I don't think [it's over]", said Wolff. "At the beginning of the season [Nico] won so many points against Lewis and you can see it swings in both directions.
"It's about avoiding mistakes, DNFs is what can cost you the championship and I think we're going to see that swing towards the end of the season. In my opinion the championship is going to go to the end."
Don't miss the F1 Report: Hungarian GP review on Sky Sports F1 at 8.30pm on Wednesday as Marc Priestley and Ben Hunt join Natalie Pinkham in the studio to discuss the fallout from the Budapest race.
