Nico Rosberg made it clear who he felt was responsible for the clash with Daniel Ricciardo that saw the German driver drop away from the podium during the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday.
Mercedes AMG PETRONAS driver Rosberg believed he had the racing line exiting turn one, but his left rear tyre and Infiniti Red Bull Racing’s Ricciardo’s front wing clashed, giving Rosberg a puncture that saw him lose the opportunity to make big gains in the championship battle with team-mate Lewis Hamilton.
Rosberg dropped to tenth as a result of his puncture, but climbed ahead of both Marcus Ericsson and Jenson Button in the closing stages to finish eighth, finishing on the tail of Romain Grosjean.
“I had a decent start, if not the best,” said Rosberg. “But I still didn’t have a great balance on the option tyre so the Ferraris were pulling away quite quickly at the beginning.
“It went better on the prime and the race was going well for me until lap 64. Racing is very tough sometimes. It’s an awful feeling to lose it at the end.
“For me, the incident with Daniel was pretty clear. I was on the ideal line, he braked too late and went wide. I then stayed on the racing line, so it was my corner, but he still had his front wing there and hit me and I got a puncture.
“That destroyed my race, which is a real shame as I could have gained a lot of points on Lewis.
“At the moment I’m not looking forward to the summer break. I just want to be back in the car and racing again tomorrow.”
