– Reuters picLONDON, July 22 ― Formula One championship leader Nico Rosberg has signed a new contract that will keep him at Mercedes with Lewis Hamilton until the end of the 2018 season, the team said today.
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The three-year deal Hamilton signed last year also runs until the end of 2018.
Hamilton heads into the weekend a point behind Rosberg in the championship and determined to take the lead for the first time this season on one of his favourite tracks.
However, Rosberg was relatively unchallenged in the afternoon session, when teammate Lewis Hamilton spun at T11 early on, after completing jsut four laps.
And 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.
Despite seeing his once healthy gap to Hamilton all but erased, Rosberg has been taking a glass-half-full approach when reflecting on his season so far, but is set to race at another track where history favours the Briton.
The defending champion, bidding to make history this weekend by becoming the first driver to win on five occasions in Hungary, posted a best lap of one minute and 21.347 seconds to lead the way ahead of his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg.
“It was never in doubt we wanted to stay with Nico, and I guess it was of interest for him to stay in the best current auto”.
Mercedes’ confirmation of Rosberg signals that all three leading teams, including Ferrari and Red Bull, have retained their drivers for next year.
Youngster Max Verstappen, then with Toro Rosso and now at Red Bull, had a spectacular outing climbing to fourth position.
Sebastian Vettel, victor in Hungary previous year, was third for Ferrari ahead of team-mate Kimi Raikkonen.
“I looked at the race after and I thought as a spectator it was quite entertaining to hear a driver a little bit panicking on the radio and the team panicking at the same time”.
“It’s always very clear with the two of them this is the philosophy we follow of having absolutely equal material and equal opportunity”, added Wolff. “I think the new asphalt suits us, so I’m optimistic”.
“It was an impressive day for us, performance-wise”, Rosberg said.
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“We’re actually in the race with Mercedes now at certain circuits which is great to see”, said team principal Christian Horner.
