Rosberg has long said that he is taking the season race by race.
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Rosberg was the only driver to significantly improve his lap time, lifting him from a provisional second and on to pole, after Fernando Alonso spun at turn four which prompted double waved yellows.
It is a remarkable turnaround for the Briton who feared his chances of winning a third successive title were all but over after slipping 43 points behind Rosberg with a combination of bad luck and auto trouble plaguing the early part of his season.
By the time they emerged from Turn One, Hamilton held the lead. “Maybe after the next couple of days I’ll feel it, but I’m still in the mentality of chasing”.
The win was Hamilton’s fifth in Hungary, making Hamilton the most successful driver at the Hungaroring in its 31-race history with one more victory than Michael Schumacher. “I love the track and so I’m going to try and win there”.
“And I think we didn’t set a great example on Saturday”.
“That’s it. That’s the only change there, but it doesn’t change much for me, because it’s so close, and I’m out there every race with the opportunity to win”.
The Mercedes driver, who eventually lost out to team-mate Lewis Hamilton and with it the F1 championship lead, grabbed pole position with his final flying lap in Q3.
The defending world champion won the Hungarian GP on Sunday to move into first place in the title race for the first time this season.
Rosberg agreed, saying: “It was all down to the start in the end”. “My start was okay, but slightly down on Lewis’s start and Daniel’s also ever so slightly”. There was never a moment that I felt that I was going to lose it. Ricciardo’s third place finish moves him up to third in the standings as well.
This left Rosberg only seven-tenths behind, but Hamilton responded with a fastest lap to re-open the gap to 1.1 seconds and soon extended it to 2.9 seconds.
Daniel Ricciardo won the third place after a well-defended race from Sebastian Vettel. “I like it very much, and I think they looked wonderful”, Hamilton said. Kimi Raikkonen was displeased with Verstappen’s overly aggressive defense.
If only Jenson Button could enjoy such a trouble free afternoon in his McLaren. While time penalties were imposed on Esteban Gutierrez for ignoring blue flags and Daniil Kvyat for pit lane speeding.
The remaining top ten spots were filled by Carlos Sainz, Valtteri Bottas and Nico Hulkenberg, respectively.
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“We have the next race coming up very quickly and it is my home race next weekend, the German Grand Prix, so bring it on”, he added.
