Nico Rosberg believes his and team-mate Lewis Hamilton's momentum comes in waves, with each enjoying a run of success before the other one takes over, with the German believing it's time for Hamilton's to end.
Hamilton has won four of the last five races to close a 43-point gap – which Rosberg built up by winning the first four races – down to just one – helped in part by a penalty at the British Grand Prix which dropped Rosberg from second to third.
Rosberg admits losing points to a penalty is tough to accept: "Silverstone was a good weekend except for the loss of position following the Stewards’ decision after the race. It was disappointing to lose a hard-fought and deserved second position in such a way."
The championship leader insists he isn't thinking about his lead and reckons the momentum will swing his way soon.
"If I focused on points and championships I'd be massively disappointed because I was 40-whatever points ahead and now it's one, but I'm not focusing on it," Rosberg told the Guardian.
"Momentum does play a role. We've seen it with Lewis and I from 2014. We've always gone in waves. It's strange but it must be time for his wave to be ending now," he added.
Meanwhile Rosberg admitted it's "difficult to be friends" because they're both so competitive and ultimately fighting against each other, despite the team's interests.
"Beating Lewis… he's one of the sweetest opponents. He's one of those opponents where you get the greatest satisfaction from beating him because he's a world champion.
"I have huge respect for him but, well, we're not best friends at the moment. That's the difficulty between us now. We're just both so competitive and that makes it difficult to be friends because the competition is so extreme."
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