Rosberg: P2 was the best that we could do - MotorSportsTalk

Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg is pleased to have qualified in second place for the Brazilian Grand Prix, believing that even a perfect lap would not have been enough to stop compatriot Sebastian Vettel from securing pole position for tomorrow’s race.

Rosberg had finished fastest in both of the wet sessions on Friday, and he excelled in the wet once again in qualifying to finish four-tenths clear of third-placed Fernando Alonso.

“It was a good day today, everything went to plan,” Rosberg said. “It’s always extremely tough in these conditions, because it’s just all over the place and you need to make sure you don’t get caught out. The whole team, we all did a good job and perfect strategy also in the end, doing those two consecutive laps with the inter, got a good lap together, happy with that.”

However, Rosberg has admitted that he is surprised by the 0.6 second gap to Vettel at the front, although he believes that the four-time world champion was unstoppable on Saturday at Interlagos.

“I’m surprised about the gap to Sebastian, it’s very big. Definitely it would have been difficult even getting everything perfect to come close to him, so that’s fine. Optimum was second place and we got that, so it’s okay and it’s a great place to start for tomorrow.”

Rosberg is best-placed to prevent Vettel from taking a record-equalling ninth consecutive victory in Brazil on Sunday, but Mercedes will be hoping that he does enough to ensure that the team finishes as runners-up to Red Bull in the constructors’ championship with Ferrari and Lotus both in contention.

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An IndyCar executive said there is “absolutely” disappointment that its long-awaited video game recently was delayed beyond its target date, but the series remains optimistic about the new title.

“Well, I don’t know how quick it will be, but the whole situation is important to us,” Penske Entertainment president and CEO Mark Miles said during a news conference Monday morning to announce IndyCar’s NTT title sponsorship. “Motorsport Games has spent a lot of money, a lot of effort to create an IndyCar title. What we’ve seen of that effort, which is not completely obvious, is very reassuring.

“I think it’s going to be outstanding. That’s our shared objective, that when it is released, it’s just widely accepted. A great credit both to IndyCar racing, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, something that our fans love.”

In June 2021, IndyCar announced a new partnership with Motorsport Games to create and distribute an IndyCar video game for the PC and Xbox and PlayStation consoles in 2023.

But during an earnings call last week, Motorsport Games said the IndyCar game had been delayed to 2024 to ensure high quality.

Somewhat compounding the delay is that IndyCar’s license for iRacing expired after the end of the 2022 season because of its exclusive agreement with Motorsport Games.

That’s resulted in significant changes for IndyCar on iRacing, which had provided a high-profile way for the series to stay visible during its 2020 shutdown from the pandemic. (Players still can race an unbranded car but don’t race on current IndyCar tracks, nor can they stream).

That’s helped ratchet up the attention on having a video game outlet for IndyCar.

“I wish we had an IndyCar title 10 years ago,” said Miles, who has been working with the organization since 2013. “We’ve been close, but we’ve had these I think speed bumps.”

IndyCar is hopeful the Motorsports Game edition will be ready at the start of 2024. Miles hinted that beta versions could be unveiled to reporters ahead of the time “to begin to show the progress in a narrow way to make sure we’ve got it right, to test the progress so that we’re ready when they’re ready.”

It’s been nearly 18 years since the release of the most recent IndyCar video game for console or PC.

“(We) better get it right,” Miles said. “It’s something we’re very close to and continue to think about what it is to make sure we get it over the line in due course.”