It was Rosberg’s fourth win of the season and his seventh in succession, and gives him a 43-point lead over Hamilton at the head of the driver standings.
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The race was marked by a chaotic first lap in which Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel retired after being hit twice by the Red Bull of Daniil Kyvat. “It’s great stuff but I just enjoy winning and I enjoyed winning today”.
“Also I am running out of engines as the races go by”.
Rosberg did not mention the problem on the podium or during a subsequent news conference, when he said the auto was “fantastic” and he had driven flat out to the finish with plenty of life in the tyres.
But the engine difficulties that are plaguing Hamilton are surely a concern to the Mercedes engineers given that Rosberg’s power unit was giving unusual signals too. Very, very happy. I just like to keep going for concentration.
British Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes listens to the Japanese national anthem at the starting grid before the Japanese Formula One Grand Prix at the Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka, Japan, in September past year.
Lewis Hamilton was able to recover from yesterday’s qualifying issues to take second place ahead of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.
“I am well aware Lewis will bounce back when he has a clean weekend, and it will be the usual tough battle against him”, he said.
History repeats – sort of – as Rosberg celebrates a 2016 win. The Finnish driver qualified in fourth place from where he got off to a decent start as the five red lights went out.
This poor luck, with his struggles this season a big contrast to Rosberg’s problem-free runs, has brought about the rumours online that Mercedes are favouring the German this term.
“I’m just aware that there’s most likely going to be at least one ten-place penalty in the future because I’ve got one more reprimand to go”, the 31-year-old revealed to Sky Sports.
But Toto Wolff, the Mercedes boss, later revealed Hamilton was not the only driver within the sport’s all-conquering team to encounter trouble in Sochi.
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Wolff said he was speaking out because the abuse directed at the Formula One team could impact on engineers and other employees. We are pushing the limits on the chassis and on the engine side a lot…
