Nico Rosberg is refusing to get carried away by thoughts of celebrating a maiden Formula One title triumph at the end of the season, despite getting one hand on the championship crown with victory in the Japanese Grand Prix.
 The German eased to a maiden win from pole position at the Suzuka circuit on Sunday, chalking up his ninth win of the year, to lift himself 33 points clear of Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton in the overall standings.
 Such is Rosberg’s margin that, with just four races to go, the 31-year-old can take the title without needing to win another race.
 “I don’t feel relief,” said Rosberg, only the fifth driver to win nine races in a season. “I’m just happy to win the Suzuka race.”
 Rosberg’s comments are in keeping with the approach the German has adopted this year, focusing on each race as it comes rather than the campaign as a whole. Runner-up to Hamilton in the overall standings in the last two years, he is not planning to change it now that the title is within reach.
 “The best reasoning is that it’s actually working quite well,” said Rosberg. “So why change something if it’s going quite well?
“The approach that I have at the moment is just coming here, focusing on the weekend and trying to get that win.”
 Never has a driver who has won eight or more races in a season gone on to lose the title. Rosberg also currently appears to have the psychological edge over Hamilton, who cut a distracted and withdrawn figure in Suzuka.
 But Rosberg, who can equal Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel’s record of 13 wins in a season if he triumphs at the remaining races, knows how quickly fortunes can turn.
 Hamilton has not won since the
German Grand Prix at the end of July while Rosberg has won four of the five races since.
Nevertheless, the Briton had been on course to take back the overall lead until his engine blew in Malaysia.
 Rosberg also knows that in Hamilton he faces a formidable competitor, who earlier this season converted a 43-point deficit to the German into a 19-point advantage with a streak of six wins from seven races.
 “You can see how quick it goes in Malaysia, you’re in the lead and if the other guy wins it’s 25 points lost and then the gap is down to eight,” said Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff.
“Remember when Nico won eight races in a row and then Lewis had that winning streak? I think it’s going to go down to the end.”

Verstappen justifies tactic after Hamilton clash
Max Verstappen once again found his driving the subject of discussion in the stewards’ office, following Sunday’s race.
The Dutchman clashed with Lewis Hamilton while defending second place in a hard-fought duel between the pair in the closing stages of the race. The world champion tried to dive down the outside of the Red Bull at the final chicane in a last-gasp move near the end of the penultimate lap.
 But Verstappen doggedly hung on for second place, rebuffing Hamilton’s attempt with a robust move that sent the Mercedes wide onto the run-off. The Briton complained about Verstappen’s driving on the radio, which Mercedes followed up with an official protest to the stewards after the race.
 “Already the laps before he was closing quite a bit,” said Verstappen. “But I saw already out of turn 14 he had a good exit so yeah, I was using a bit of energy and I defended into the last chicane. All good,” the 19-year-old added.
 Both Verstappen and Hamilton left the track shortly after the race and as they weren’t available to present their version of events, the stewards decided to leave it to their colleagues at the next race in Austin to look into the matter.
 Mercedes, though, later withdrew the protest “in the interests of establishing a final official result”, a move backed by Hamilton.
“There is no protest from myself. Just heard the team had but I told
them it is not what we do. We are champions, we move on. End of!” he said on Twitter.
 Verstappen has been a breath of fresh air for the sport since he arrived as a 17-year-old with Toro Rosso last season but his uncompromising attitude and aggressive tactics have caused controversy.
He clashed with Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel following August’s Belgian Grand Prix after defending aggressively against the Ferrari pair following a collision between the trio at the start.
 The governing International Automobile Federation’s race director Charlie Whiting had a word with Verstappen about his driving on Sunday. But his move against Hamilton won the praise of his team principal, Christian Horner.
 “I thought it was firm but fair,” said the Briton. “I didn’t really see any issue with it. Lewis didn’t seem to have any problem after the race, apparently he said well done to him.”