Nico Rosberg closed his ears to negative thoughts and title talk on Thursday, even after Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton said he would ‘take it like a man’ if he lost his Formula One championship to the German.
The overall leader refused to rise to the bait when asked whether he would see it the same way if triple champion Hamilton, now 33 points behind with four races remaining, turned things around and beat him.
“I haven’t thought of that because I am planning to go for more race wins at the moment and that’s it,” the German told reporters at the US Grand Prix.
“And definitely such negative thoughts I will fully avoid. There’s no point, that’s not going to make me faster this weekend to think how am I going to feel if I lose. That doesn’t work.”
Rosberg has won nine races so far, to Hamilton’s six, and has been repeating a mantra of taking each race as it comes without thinking of any bigger picture. He needs no reminding of how close he is to becoming only the second offspring of a champion to take the title, after Britain’s 1996 winner Damon Hill, but he is also determined to take one step at a time.
“It’s business as usual this weekend,” he said on his return to the track where last year he made a mistake while leading and handed victory and the title to Hamilton, who has a great record in American races. “Why lose energy and think about something that’s still miles away and can or cannot happen? Better just stay in the moment and make the best of it. You can choose what you think about, can’t you,” he continued. “I choose to think about Austin and the weekend that I have here. I don’t suppress it, I just go for something else.”
Rosberg, who won the last three grands prix of 2015 and first four of 2016, needs only to finish second in every remaining race to secure the title but he banished that thought from his mind as well. “I definitely don’t put any thought into that at all,” he said. “I’m going for the win here this weekend, I’m not trying to bring home any second places. I will try to push for the win, 100% all the way until the chequered flag. Of course, I’m aware of the scenario about finishing second, but I’m definitely not thinking that way at all.”
He added that he was also not at all concerned by Hamilton’s record on the Circuit of the Americas where he has won three times and last year clinched his third title. “As we’ve seen so often this year, it has no importance. With the car that I have, I can win on any track against Lewis. This weekend, for me, we’re just starting from scratch.
“It’s going to be a good battle, fighting it out. It’s going to be difficult against him, always. He’s going to be fully motivated as always, of course. He’s going to be at his best. It’ll be exciting and that’s it.”

German Hulkenburg targets Renault wins in 2017
Meanwhile, Nico Hulkenberg expects to compete for victories next season when he joins Renault after five years with Force India. The German driver told a news conference ahead of this weekend’s United States Grand Prix that he wanted to change teams and take his chance to race for a ‘works’ team. “I believe it is the right step in my career at this point,” he said. “I think and feel I have come a long way with Force India. It’s my fifth year and we had good success together, but it’s time for a new challenge. Since I was in F1, I wanted to race for a manufacturer team and this is a really good opportunity, the timing was good too. A good decision from my side.”
He added that he believed he had the talent to help the French outfit to improve. “They have expectations to be at the front and compete for wins and that is what I am looking for,” he added.
“When they bought Lotus, it was not the easiest situation, so it will take time to rebuild, but what I see is a good future and a massive challenge, but I am very up for that and want to build a success story with them.”