Rosberg still in the game for F1 title - Hakkinen

Nico Rosberg is still in the game when it comes to winning world championships.

That is the view of former two-time title winner Mika Hakkinen, who insisted the German driver cannot be written off after back-to-back defeats.

For the past two years, Mercedes has been dominant in F1 but it has been Rosberg’s teammate Lewis Hamilton who swept up the drivers’ crowns.

"For the drivers it’s a tough game," Hakkinen told Germany’s Sport Bild, "because only one of them can win. And so far it has been only Lewis.

"But that does not mean the game is over. The most important thing for someone in Nico’s position is not to give up and start living with the fact that you are second.

"You have to fight, even if in the end only one of them can win," the back-to-back world champion of 1998 and 1999 added.

Hakkinen said a positive for Rosberg, and a potential chink in the armour for the otherwise dominant Hamilton, is the fact that Rosberg completed his 2015 campaign with a hat-trick of wins from pole.

"Lewis was able to sit back in the end," the 47-year-old former McLaren driver and Finn continued. "But once someone else starts winning, that can have a psychological effect for the next season."