Mercedes boss Toto Wolff insists Nico Rosberg has the strength of character to challenge Lewis Hamilton in 2016 after seeing his hopes of this year's title all but vanish in Russia.
Rosberg suffered a throttle failure when leading in the early stages of the Russian Grand Prix, with retirement dropping him to third in the drivers' championship, 73 points behind Hamilton with four races left. After the 2014 championship came down to the final round this year's fight between the Mercedes team-mates has been a lot more one-sided, with Hamilton winning nine races to Rosberg's three.
Asked if he believes Rosberg is strong enough to come back after losing out to Hamilton for a second successive year, Wolff replied: "Yes he's definitely strong enough, a great character. The moment you realise you've lost it you concentrate on next year and I've no doubt he's going to bounce back very strongly."
Hamilton's win in Sochi and the post-race penalty for Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen meant Mercedes secured the constructors' championship for the second straight season. Wolff admitted Rosberg' retirement, and the implications it had on his title hopes, tempered his own joy at the team's achievement.
"It is definitely a bittersweet moment for the team because you don't want to see one of your drivers retire like Nico did. He was in the lead, had a brilliant weekend and then the car fails just because of a minor little thing breaking down. So I'm really unhappy for him but obviously happy for Lewis who extended his lead in the drivers' championship and drove a brilliant race as well."
Speaking of Hamilton, who can win the title in Austin if he leads a Mercedes one-two, Wolff said: "Yeah incredibly dominant. He has real momentum and for sure deserves to win yet another title. Then finally he has the same amount of titles as Niki [Lauda] so that's good for the balance within the team."