Nico Rosberg predicts lengthy title battle

Nico Rosberg Mercedes f1 World Drivers Championship

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Nico Rosberg expects his F1 world championship battle with Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton to continue until the final race of the season.

The German driver leads the drivers’ standings by just 11 points from the British 2008 world champion during the summer break ahead of the return to battle at the Belgian Grand Prix on August 24.

Rosberg was still smarting from finishing fourth at last Sunday’s race in Hungary when Hamilton ignored team orders to allow him to pass during the race and managed to finish just ahead of him in the third and final podium place behind race winner Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso.

He admitted to not being happy about going into the summer break because he wanted to make amends as quickly as possible, while he also called on Mercedes to hold internal talks about the “best way forward” after the incident at the Hungaroring.

But Rosberg does expect the scrap for the title to be just as exciting when the campaign resumes in just over three weeks’ time.

He said: “It’s going to remain intense, definitely, but that’s natural because it’s both of us going for race wins every race. And that it’s going to be intense is clear, and it will remain so until the end of the year, I hope to all your happiness and excitement.

“The intensity is an ongoing process we need to manage.”

Rosberg is 2.00 to win the F1 World Drivers’ Championship, while Hamilton is slight favourite at 1.77.

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