Polesitter now hoping for help from Williams in Sunday's race; Glum-looking Hamilton says he will approach race day "the same as always"
Monday 24 November 2014 15:25, UK
Nico Rosberg believes he has taken a “small step” towards snatching the World Championship out of Lewis Hamilton’s grasp after claiming pole position for the Abu Double finale after his Mercedes team-mate once again was pressurised into making a series of mistakes during the top-ten shootout.
Although Hamilton’s starting position of second place would be sufficient at the chequered flag on Sunday to secure the title, Rosberg is ideally placed to control – and perhaps, more pertinently, confuse – the race after claiming his 11th pole of the season.
“It was a great day again today. I was really happy with the set-up and got a good lap today. But it's only one step and a small step. This weekend is about the championship and not about pole position. It would have been great if somehow a Williams could have got between the two of us but that can always happen tomorrow,” said Rosberg.
“Qualifying was one of the strengths this year but it’s just the first step into any race weekend. It’s Sunday that counts and that’s where I’ve moved to improve a little bit recently – like Interlagos, for example, where I managed a good step. That’s what I want to do again tomorrow.”
As Rosberg smugly and snugly took centre stage in the post-session press conference, Hamilton only had himself to blame. After dominating Friday’s practice sessions, the Englishman locked up his front tyres on both of his Q3 flying laps to suffer another resounding Saturday defeat to his Mercedes team-mate.
It has become an all-too regular occurrence this season – the first in Hamilton’s F1 career in which he has lost out to his team-mate in qualifying over the course of an entire campaign
"He just puts more pressure on the brake pedal in Q3 than he does at other times," concluded Sky Sports F1’s Martin Brundle as footage revealed a tell-tale puff of smoke from Hamilton’s front tyres into the hairpin. "It was a scruffy qualifying from Lewis and he could have been just fifth. He just over-drives the final part of qualifying - which isn't what he used to do. It will have hurt his pride to be out-qualified so comprehensively.”
Hamilton’s own version of events was rather more succinct. "I didn't have the best of laps but it was still a good qualifying session, I enjoyed it. And as Nico said, tomorrow is all about the championship."
And how will he approach the first corner? "The same as I always do."
And how will be approach the race as a whole knowing that he needs only finish where he starts? "The same as always."
In a moment of high – if rather contrived – theatre, Rosberg turned around his chair to stare directly at his title foe as he answered.
If Hamilton wasn't already aware, the pantomime villain of 2014 just isn’t going away - or giving up.
"There will be people back in England losing sleep," added Sky F1's Damon Hill. "It's made it tense. Nico has raised the bar and the reason Lewis made a mistake and pushed too far is because Nico is not going away quietly."
