Because some races you can follow which enables you to have some good racing, obviously places like Austin where there was the last decent race, but otherwise there are some places it’s jus t…
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Hamilton, 30, has finished second in both races since he won his third world championship in Texas last month. Hamilton was able to get within DRS activation distance but was never able to mount a strong enough charge to pass his teammate.
“I had good pace but you just can’t overtake here”.
“I’m faster but I can’t get close”, Hamilton said over the team radio as he began to slip further off the lead in second place. Hamilton turned a few of the fastest laps near the end could not catch his teammate and rival.
Although Mercedes denied their lead vehicle had any developing reliability worries, Rosberg then appeared particularly cautious on the brakes for several laps after the first tyre change, allowing Hamilton to move in overtaking range for several laps before dropping back again.
“I’m here to race, and when you both have to do the same strategy, it’s kind of already set from the beginning”. “I think I’ve just raised my game”.
Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff thinks that there has been a new approach from the German in recent races, one that could have been inspired by what happened at the Circuit of the Americas. We could have done it like teams in the past where we have a clear No1 and No2 and the No2 would not come close to the other one.
Nico Rosberg credits his own personal reflection during the “pretty dark” period after Lewis Hamilton won the 2015 championship for his recent turnaround.
And while the team must be applauded for allowing Hamilton and Rosberg to slug it out on track, their refusal to change their tactical outlook, undoes a few of that. Something has shifted in the auto, I guess I have been a little bit less comfortable with it. ‘It is such a great track, but you can’t get close enough to race.
It was Rosberg’s 13th F1 career victory and made it back-to-back grand prix wins and successive victories in Brazil. On the other hand, the recently-awarded F1 Constructors’ Champion Mercedes-AMG Petronas expanded its gap versus Ferrari by 259 points when it increased its overall season score to 660 points. “We want to win though, so next year we must continue to make that step forward”. “It would be great to do something different strategy-wise once in a while to mix it up, but as drivers we rely on the team”.
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Kimi Raikkonen came home fourth in the second Ferrari ahead of Valtteri Bottas of Williams, Nico Hulkenberg of Force India, Danil Kvyat of Red Bull and local hero Felipe Massa in the second Williams.
