A painful race for Nico Rosberg, sacrificed on the altar of his teammate’s victory
After three consecutive victories in the Principality, Nico Rosberg surrendered his title. Anonymous seventh, the Mercedes driver suffered from a terrible lack of confidence in his Mercedes.
The current championship leader experienced a nightmare in the Principality this time. Unable to threaten Ricciardo after the actual start, Rosberg’s race only went from bad to worse. According to the main person involved, brake problems were at the root of his issues.
« I didn’t have the feeling at all: I totally lacked confidence with these conditions » lamented the German.
« It was painful not to fight for the victory. I had to refrain from driving at the limit, otherwise I would have ended up in the wall! »
One of the “highlights” of his race was this exchange of position with a much faster Lewis Hamilton during the first stint on wet tires. A situation ultimately favorable to the Englishman. Who knows if this team order hadn’t been applied: could Hamilton have caught up with Daniel Ricciardo and won?
« It was an easy decision to make and accept, even if it is hurtful at the moment. I was far off the pace of Lewis, who had the speed to win for the team. We always have this rule in the team: if your teammate is much faster and has a chance to win, you must then give them this chance »
The question will be whether the issues encountered with his car will be resolved. For Rosberg, the response is as follows: « We will analyze the data to try to understand. There are many small difficulties that have accumulated in this problem. »
His race was challenging until the very end, with that overtake at the start/finish line by Nico Hülkenberg, who snatched his sixth position. Rosberg tells us about this particular moment:
« I was on ultra softs, he was on softs. He had a lot of grip with his tires, mine went flat with the rain and the drop in temperatures! »
in racing you have ups and downs… watch my live video message from #MonacoGPhttps://t.co/ilqOfUXwZp pic.twitter.com/aeAtxAzgLV
— Nico Rosberg (@nico_rosberg) 29 mai 2016
On his side, Toto Wolff has a more general explanation for the issues faced by his driver:
« We were unable to get his tires into the right operating window for a large part of the weekend.
The reason, in my opinion, was the temperature of his tires. We looked at the situation over several laps, and it was complicated.
As such, he also justified the exchange of position with Hamilton: « his car was behaving like a damaged single-seater, which is why we made this choice. We debated for a long time, but the fact is there was clearly an issue with his car. We had chosen an aggressive strategy, so we had to apply it. »
Paradoxical outcome for the car marked with number 6 in this 2016 edition. By letting his teammate pass so early in the race, Rosberg thus put Hamilton back in the running, precisely 24 points from his leading position in the drivers’ championship. But obviously, it was impossible for Rosberg to fight as his race was so disappointing.
His lead in the standings is still comfortable over the rest of the pack, but more than ever, this season will certainly hold its share of unexpected surprises!
