Friday, 22 July 2016

Nico Rosberg signs new two-year deal with Mercedes as Championship leader insists he is not feeling the pressure at the top

Nico Rosberg has extended his stay with Mercedes after signing a new two-year contract.
The deal will see the 31-year-old German, who currently leads the championship, partner Lewis Hamilton until the end of 2018.
Mercedes tweeted a short video of Rosberg and team boss Toto Wolff signing the new contract with the caption 'It is done...
Rosberg joined Mercedes from Williams in 2010, initially partnering Michael Schumacher before Hamilton's arrival in 2013.


The pair have formed one of the fiercest rivalries in Formula One's recent history, but Rosberg, despite winning 19 times, is yet to beat Hamilton to the championship.

Rosberg's new deal means the sport's top three teams will remain unchanged next season, with Ferrari announcing at the British Grand Prix that Kimi Raikkonen will partner Sebastian Vettel for at least one more season while Daniel Ricciardo committed his future to Red Bull earlier this summer.

Wolff warned before the start of the season that he would split Rosberg and Hamilton up if their relationship - which has deteriorated in the three successive seasons they have fought for the title - had a detrimental effect on the team.

Yet despite three collisions this season, one of which saw them both crash out on the opening lap of the Spanish Grand Prix, and the subsequent threat of team orders and suspensions, Rosberg and Hamilton will now extend their intra-team rivalry for at least a further two years.

In a short statement released, Mercedes said: 'We are delighted to announce that the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team has signed a two-year contract extension with Nico Rosberg for the 2017 and 2018 Formula One seasons.
'Nico has been a core member of the Silver Arrows since the team returned to the sport in 2010 and has played a crucial role in the team's success in that time.

'He has scored 19 Grand Prix wins and 25 pole positions so far with Mercedes-Benz and is currently leading the Drivers' World Championship.'

Rosberg is currently ahead of Hamilton by one point going into Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix, and he insists he is not feeling the pressure of the Brit breathing down his neck.

The 31-year-old, demoted to third after the British Grand Prix following a breach of the sport's strict radio rules, has seen his hefty championship lead of 43 points wiped out in the space of just five races.

While Hamilton is bidding for a record-breaking fifth win in Hungary, Rosberg has not even finished on the podium here in 10 previous attempts.

But when asked if he was feeling the pressure of Hamilton's title charge, a defiant Rosberg replied: 'No. We can all agree on the fact that so far up to now I've had the best season of all drivers. That's the fact for me which I'm focusing on.

'In general I don't look at the big picture, because the best approach for me to win races is just to focus on the weekend at hand, go for the win and that's it.'

Rosberg's commendable achievement of winning seven consecutive races - a streak which stretched back to last season - must now seem like a distant memory to the German.
For Hamilton, winner of the last two races - including his home race at Silverstone earlier this month - he is riding a crest of a wave and the defending champion hopes it will carry him to a record-breaking triumph on Sunday.

A victory at one of the best-known venues on the Formula One calendar would see Hamilton surpass both the four wins that he and Michael Schumacher have managed here.

'The last two races, when you go from one strength to another, it is an incredibly empowering, motivating and inspiring feeling,' said Hamilton.

'The last race was still the greatest week I have had as far as I can remember. So, I am hopefully riding that good wave into this weekend and I plan to catch the next good one.

'I surf, and sometimes you have to wait for the wave to come. Sometimes they don't come and sometimes you fall when you get up on the wave. But when you catch it, it is the greatest feeling, so that is very much how it is right now, to be on top of the wave.'


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