Nico Rosberg has said he is “not here to please everyone” after Bernie Ecclestone claimed it would be bad for the sport should the German win Formula One’s world championship, something he can achieve this weekend at the Mexican Grand Prix.

Ecclestone was critical of Rosberg in 2015 telling him: “You are bad for my business.” He followed this up at the last round in Austin by saying: “If Nico won the title it would be good for him and good for Mercedes but it wouldn’t necessarily help the sport because there is nothing to write about him. Even in Germany it wouldn’t help.”

Rosberg gave the comments short shrift before practice begins on Friday at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. “I am here to win races, not to please everybody that’s out there,” he said. “There will always be people who have opinions that go against me in some way or another that’s the nature of the business. I like to focus on the people who really work with me.”

It was a single-minded response from a driver who is focused on winning his first championship, despite his insistence he was not thinking about it. With three races remaining if Rosberg wins here and Lewis Hamilton retires or fails to score a point, the German will have sealed the victory.

Rosberg leads his Mercedes team-mate by 26 points, enough to ensure he would still claim the title even if he finished second to the British driver in the remaining races. It is the strongest position he has been in at this stage of the season in his career but he said he was thinking solely on the race ahead.

“It has been a great season so far,” he said. “It is exciting to be in this championship battle with Lewis. We have been there before but for me, my way of achieving the best possible performance is focusing on things that are in my control and that is here in Mexico trying to win the race.

“In terms of the championship, it is not within my control if I get it this weekend. For me, it is just about doing the race.”

Rosberg was equally dismissive of comments Ecclestone made on Thursday suggesting that F1 should introduce walls on corners in order to make racing more exciting. “There are 10 other areas to look at to make the sport better than it is, before we start looking at turning back time on safety,” he said.

Rosberg was solidly beaten by Hamilton in Austin, where the three-times world champion led from start to finish in a flawless run in what was his first win in six races. Hamilton’s victory, his 50th, and achieved in such dominant style, has bolstered his hopes. “I knew eventually the result would come,” he said. “The moment you give up is the moment you lose. I’ve never been one to give up and I don’t plan on starting now. There are still plenty of points available and anything is possible.”

The Mexican Grand Prix returned to the calendar after an absence of 23 years in 2015 and it was Rosberg who dominated the weekend then. He was quickest in two of the three practice sessions, took pole and won the race. It was a dead rubber however, with Hamilton having sealed the championship at the previous round in the US. The British driver said afterwards he believed the team, who brought him in for a pit stop that he thought was unnecessary, had favoured Rosberg in the wake of him losing the title.

This year a huge crowd, up on the 134,850 who came to the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in 2015, is again expected and this time they will be present at a race for which everything remains absolutely still at stake for both drivers.