Fine recovery drive from German results in second behind Hamilton; "It was definitely do-able and I just messed up," admits rueful Nico
Sunday 12 October 2014 16:56, UK
An apologetic Nico Rosberg has owned up to the mistake that saw his hopes of winning the Russian GP literally go up in smoke at the second corner.
Having trailed pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton off the line and through Turn One, Rosberg slipstreamed his team-mate into the second corner to momentarily claim the lead of the race before locking up his tyres to spectacular – and very smokey – effect.
Rosberg then slithered through the corner and over the run-off area before returning to the track in front of Hamilton. Immediately instructed to give the place back to his team-mate, worse was to befall the German as he informed his pit crew that his tyres were sufficiently damaged to require an emergency stop.
"Sorry guys, that was very unnecessary," Rosberg conceded over the team radio at the end of the race.
Reflecting further on the costly error in the post-race press conference, the German driver admitted the mistake was especially galling as he held track position over Hamilton.
"It was just a mistake on my side. I just braked too late and that’s it. It was very unnecessary because it was my corner and I should have been in the lead after that. So obviously very disappointed with that," he added.
"It was definitely do-able and I just messed up. It was very simple, no explanation. I just braked too late and too hard."
But what followed was an astonishing recovery drive as the German surged back through the field whilst simultaneously nursing his new set of medium tyres for 52 laps to the chequered flag. As a result, race victor Hamilton was only able to increase his championship lead to 17 points.
Rosberg credited the stunning pace of his W05 for the recovery and admitted he had mixed emotions about the result.
"After that [lock-up] my tyres were just square, they were vibrating so much and I couldn’t see where I was going. So I knew that I had to pit and for me I thought that was it, the end of the day," he explained.
"Then of course partly happy of course to have got back all the way to send, passing Valtteri [Bottas] on the way. It’s just thanks to my car. My car was unbelievable today and that’s what allowed me to come back through the field.
"In hindsight actually I could have pushed more during the race. It’s always easy to know afterwards, but my tyres were fine. So that’s a pity."
He added: "One half of me is extremely disappointed because I messed up, the other half is happy for the team because everyone in the team deserved it so much, the Constructors' Championship is the most important title of the season and so I can smile a bit."
Nevertheless, Rosberg’s struggles against Hamilton in wheel-to-wheel combat this season have become a reoccurring theme, with the German also out-braking himself in Canada and Italy whilst jousting against his team-mate.
“Nico looks like he is running out of ideas about how to haul in Lewis, it looked a little bit desperate into Turn Two,” observed Sky F1’s Damon Hill.
