Nico Rosberg says he is ‘p****d off’ after an opening lap move which he described as ‘really hard’ by teammate Lewis Hamilton.
Sebastian Vettel led the pack heading into Turn 1 after an electric start from third on the grid. Hamilton and Rosberg made contact which forced the German onto the grass, losing a number of positions and falling as low as tenth place.
Rosberg managed to fight back to finish in fifth place but his championship is now down to just nine points after Hamilton claimed his second win of the season.
Speaking after the race, Rosberg let his feelings be known.
“Sebastian had a great start, I had a decent one and Lewis had a really bad one. I was where my position was, on the outside [going into Turn 1], you know.
“In Barcelona, I gave it a go around the outside of Lewis and it worked out really well. I went for the same again today and he did a really hard racing manoeuvre.
“We touched, I was off and that’s it. I was very p****d off at that moment.”
Nico’s race was a frustrating one. He was forced to make his way back through that pack and had a number of exciting battles which ultimately damaged his race further.
It looked as if Rosberg could recover to third place until a slow puncture prompted an unplanned stop and dropped the championship leader back down to seventh place.
In the closing stages, the championship leader tried to make a pass on Max Verstappen but he could not find a way past the teenager.
Rosberg later spun his Mercedes under braking for the final chicane, whilst trying to make a move on Verstappen, the meant the German was fortunate to beat Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari over the line by just under one second.
