Formula 1

Nico Rosberg has no time for critics

Published Nov. 15, 2016 1:56 p.m. ET

Adam Cooper

Nico Rosberg has played down criticism from those who say he is only leading the World Championship as a result of Lewis Hamilton’s bad luck with reliability.

In addition, Bernie Ecclestone has suggested that Rosberg would not be a good champion for the sport.

“I’m here to win races and not to please everybody that’s out there,” said Rosberg. “There’s always going to be people that have opinions that will be going against me in some way or other. Those are two examples that you’ve given me and that’s the nature of the business, it’s always going to be like that so I like to focus on the people who really support me. And that’s it.”

Regarding Ecclestone’s recent comments, he said: “I spoke to him personally and he said that’s not exactly the way he said it. And anyway, for me it’s not something that’s important to me. For me, I focus on my thing and that’s it.”

Meanwhile, Rosberg insisted that he’s not thinking about the possibility of becoming World Champion by Sunday evening, which is mathematically possible.

“I’m well aware of that, and yeah, it’s been a great season so far, which has put me into this position/ It’s exciting to be in this championship battle now with Lewis towards the end of the season. We’ve been there before but anyways, it’s very cool. And that’s it.

“As I’ve said before, that for me, my way at the moment of achieving the best possible performance is really just to focus on the things that are within my control – and that’s, here in Mexico, try and win the race, and that’s it.”

Rosberg said he has good memories his 2015 victory in Mexico.

“Winning here was awesome, and also to get so much support from the Mexican people, even after that, through the whole year, social media, it’s really nice to see, so I look forward to meeting everyone again this weekend.

“The podium is one of the best in the year, in the baseball stadium, it was absolutely phenomenal and in terms of the championship, it’s not within my control if I get it this weekend, so for me it’s all about just winning the race and then we see what happens.”

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