Nico Rosberg believes there was a problem with the set of tyres he had on-board his Mercedes at the start of the Italian Grand Prix. The German had first suspected an issue at the end of Q3 qualifying, after which the top ten drivers must start the race with the same tyres.
“I guess I was just unlucky this weekend,” Rosberg said in his post-Monza video blog. “In qualifying I got a tyre set that just didn’t have any grip and so I ended up sixth, which is still okay. The fact that the tyre grip was not good was confirmed in the race. Already from the start there was just no grip; I lost five positions, even though all of the settings and the start procedure were perfect. I just had no grip in the first stint and was going backwards, so that was a tough start to the day.”
He backs up his theory by stating that, once he had changed tyres at his pit-stop, he was far more competitive and registered a string of fastest race laps:
“We came into the pits, put a new set of tyres on and from then on it was fantastic; a great balance in the car, really fast, overtaking people here, there and everywhere – great battles. Fastest lap of the race one after the other, all the way to the end, so that was cool and I got really motivated to make up as many positions as possible. I came home seventh, right behind Michael (Schumacher), so it was some good points for the team which is important in trying to turn the corner.”
Mercedes remains in the top five of the championship, having picked up 14 points on Sunday, but Sauber is now only 26 behind thanks to second and ninth positions.
GPUpdate TV video:
Nico Rosberg’s post-Monza blog
Series
Formula 1
Personalities
Nico Rosberg
Teams
Mercedes Grand Prix
Other
Get your official Formula 1 tickets at Sportstadium.com
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  L. Hamilton | McLaren | 1:19:41.221 |
| 2. | S. Perez | Sauber | +4.356 |
| 3. | F. Alonso | Ferrari | +20.594 |
| 4. | F. Massa | Ferrari | +29.667 |
| 5. | K. Raikkonen | Lotus | +30.881 |
| 6. | M. Schumacher | Mercedes | +31.259 |
| 7. | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | +33.550 |
| 8. | P. di Resta | Force India | +41.057 |
| 9. | K. Kobayashi | Sauber | +43.898 |
| 10. | B. Senna | Williams | +48.144 |
| Full results | |||
| Nico Rosberg | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 |  |  |  |
| More Nico Rosberg photos | |||
English
Nederlands
Español
Italiano
