Rosberg “baffled” by lack of pace in wet around Monaco
World championship leader Nico Rosberg blamed his lowly seventh-place finish in today’s Monaco Grand Prix on a lack of pace in the early stages and a disastrous pitstop that cost him three places.
To add insult to injury for Rosberg, Nico Hulkenberg passed him in the closing corners to grab sixth position on the final lap.
“Definitely baffled by that lack of pace initially,” said Rosberg. “Just felt completely, I don’t know what, no confidence in the beginning on those tyres, and then it just didn’t go my way in the pitstops. We had an issue at the pitstop.
“As a result of the delay with the issue in the pitstop, then I got traffic so I had to hold and lost even more as cars just went by. And when you’re behind cars in Monaco, that’s it."
Rosberg said he had no issue with the team order to allow his teammate Lewis Hamilton to pass him during the first stint.
“It was pretty simple at the time, I was very far off the pace," he admitted. "Lewis still had a chance to win the race, quite clearly as he did. It was quite straightforward from the team, give the other guy a chance to win the race, it was painful but quite simple at the time."
"Disappointed with today"
On the subject of Hulkenberg’s last lap pass, Rosberg blamed the rain and the state of his tyres.
“He had soft tyres on so he had a lot more rubber left, I was on the ultrasoft and the rubber was finished at the end,” he said. “As soon as it started drizzling my tyres cooled down immediately and his kept the temperature so he had more grip.
“I’m disappointed with today, I wanted to win my home race and didn’t manage it.”
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