Nico Rosberg praises Lewis Hamilton, blames Mercedes for unwanted record

Nico Rosberg has praised Lewis Hamilton despite the seven-time world champion failing to win a single race this season. The 2016 world champion has blamed Mercedes for their 2022 woes, but is hoping his former team can get a slice of luck before the campaign concludes.

Hamilton is almost certain that his record of winning a race every year since his debut in 2007 will come to an end in 2022. The British racer feels Mercedes are still well behind newly-crowned Constructors' Champions Red Bull Racing, and he is unlikely to finish on the top step in the final three races.

The Mercedes driver came agonisingly close at the United States Grand Prix, but was overtaken by Max Verstappen with five laps remaining. Hamilton feels his team were given the opportunity to fight for the win only due to Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez's penalties, which saw them start in 12th and ninth respectively.

Rosberg acknowledged Hamilton's luck in Austin, but heaped praise on his former teammate and arch rival. The German is certain that the Briton has lost none of his powers, and his lack of competitiveness is completely due to the poor machinery provided by Mercedes.

"Lewis is driving at the top of his game, as always," Rosberg told Sky Sports. "He's still absolutely excellent out there at the moment, super brilliant. So it's definitely not down to Lewis' driving, it's the car."

"So let's see, if the circumstances do come into his favour, or George's, then it can still come good."

The former Mercedes driver also praised Mercedes for making up ground on the front runners during the course of the season. The Silver Arrows team were struggling with multiple issues at the start of the campaign, and were well behind Ferrari and Red Bull.

The eight-time Constructors' champions, slowly but surely, brought upgrades, and understood the major problems to close the gap. They are certainly closer to Ferrari in terms of race pace, but continue to trail the Austrian team, who are pulling further away at every race.

Rosberg is hoping a small slice of luck - in the form of a race win - will go Mercedes' way before the end of the season. The next opportunity will come this weekend at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico, where again Red Bull are expected to be favourites.

"I really wish for it to happen for Mercedes, because they did such a great job to catch up during the season, understand the problems that they were having, which were really big, big problems," he added.