Nico Rosberg insists his Mercedes contract renewal was not playing on his mind when he moved aside to let teammate Lewis Hamilton pass at the Monaco Grand Prix.
Rosberg was running second in Sunday's race when the team radioed him to pick up his pace or let Hamilton through. Rosberg -- who was struggling for tyre and brake temperature -- explained after the race that there is a long-standing rule within the team that a driver should move aside if he is costing his team a shot at victory.
However, Rosberg's compliance still came as a surprise as it allowed Hamilton to go on and win the race, slashing the German's lead in the drivers' championship by 19 points. Rosberg is currently negotiating an extension of his Mercedes contract beyond the end of this year -- with the sticking point rumoured to be whether the deal is just a for one year or several years -- but he said it had not played on his mind when he moved aside.
"It's not something that I've been thinking about, it's not really at the top of my mind," he said. "It's not been before this weekend and it won't be after this race and to just repeat, I am happy at Mercedes and Mercedes is pleased with me so I am sure I will be here for many more years."
After scoring 100 points with victories at the opening four races of the season, Rosberg has scored just six more at the last two races.
"Racing is always about ups and downs and I was ready for the down because I had no expectation of keeping on winning every single race, that's for sure, which wasn't the case any way since Barcelona.
"So I was ready to have a down and to navigate through it and come back through the other side. Of course I am now [on Sunday night] still in the process of digesting, not as easy as that but by tomorrow [Monday] I will be full on it again for Montreal and fighting there for the win."