Abu Dhabi: Nico Rosberg said there’s no secret to his revival after taking his sixth consecutive pole position this season at the Formula One Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The Mercedes driver clocked 1:40.237 in Saturday’s qualification and finished three tenths of a second ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton, while Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen qualified in third for Sunday’s race.
Hamilton confirmed his third drivers’ championship with four races to spare in America last month, but since then Rosberg has gone on to win in both Mexico and Brazil, setting himself up well for a consolatory end of season hat-trick in the UAE capital.
But asked what he thought had prompted the late turnaround in fortunes, the 30-year-old German, replied: “There’s no revival, we haven’t reinvented anything it’s just progress and that’s it.
“Before we were always very close and Lewis had that tenth of a second edge, but at the moment it’s me who has the edge. It was close in the last two races but I’m the one that’s quicker.”
With his latest pole, the 22nd of his career, seventh of the year, and the second here at Abu Dhabi, Rosberg is now just two short of Ayrton Senna’s record [eight] run of pole positions heading into the 2016 season.
But refusing to look that far ahead, Rosberg said he was just fixated with ending the season in style at Abu Dhabi.
“Primarily, I would like to win the race because it’s a great feeling and would give the whole crew a great end to the season and a reason to party. Of course, what we learn this year helps going into next year.”
Hamilton admitted having difficulties with the car in qualifying, but said he hoped he could still end his championship-winning season on a high at Yas Marina Circuit where the driver with pole has only gone onto win once in six previous editions.
“I’ve been struggling with the car a little all weekend. We’ve been working hard to make some changes but Nico was just quick today and he did a really good job in Q3.
“Generally it gets a little bit better for the race, but it’s been going on for a while now, I’m struggling while at the edge with the car. I felt a lot more comfortable at the beginning of the year. I’ve tried to make changes this weekend but have disadvantaged myself a little bit with one of the things I took off the car, which was of benefit, but I’ll try to get around it.”
Reminded that his pole position record with Rosberg from this season was now 11 to seven in favour of Hamilton, with Sebastian Vettel taking the other one in Singapore, the 30-year-old Briton quipped: “It doesn’t really matter what the number is, at the end of the day all that matters is wins and championships, but I’m happy because it’s more in my favour and I’ve enjoyed it. In the last six [qualifications] Rico has done a good job. I’ve improvements to make with the car, but I’m sure we’ll get there.”
