The FIA made some crazy decisions this weekend in Germany but, annoyingly for Nico Rosberg, at least they got the biggest one right.
Practice sessions were dominated by track and radio limits, with the former being altered like pieces on a chess board.
You put one wheel in, four wheels out, in, out, in, out why not shake it all about.
But when it came to Nico Rosberg and THAT manoeuvre, the German will head back home to er… Monaco having caused his own undoing.
Before I get onto that let’s just point out, he shouldn’t have been in the situation he found himself in in the first place.
It was the strangest launch I’ve ever seen at the start to hear that much wheelspin in third gear, especially after getting through first and second with barely any at all.
Anyway, it was what it was and ultimately Rosberg’s lack of threat to either Red Bull other than THAT incident was really the most surprising aspect of his race.
Turning to THAT incident now, when it comes to going wheel-to-wheel Nico looks about as comfortable as a fish in the Sahara Desert. Sure he can do it, but you know it could well end with some pain.
Rosberg seems to have adopted the approach that he needs to be authoritative with his overtakes. That’s why he ran deep into the corners both at Turn 2 against Lewis Hamilton in Austria and Turn 6 versus Max Verstappen at Hockenheim.
He’s watched how his teammate pushed him wide over kerbs on multiple occasions and he’s trying to do the same. The technique works in that it gives the attacking driver the high ground, but it puts a lot of faith in the other driver not to turn in.
In Austria, turn in was exactly what Hamilton did, while Verstappen in Germany basically avoided having the same accident.
What’s also different is while, Hamilton also shoves the other driver wide off the track when he makes a move, he takes what is predominantly the racing line in most situations and that is perfectly acceptable under the regulations.
Twitter: Watch and judge for yourself as Nico Rosberg overtakes Max Verstappen https://t.co/34qHXgOCHf #SkyF1 #GermanGP https://t.co/KLRrdbwKUI (@SkySportsF1)
In both cases in Austria and Hockenheim, Rosberg went off the line himself to ensure the other driver left the track. If he had just taken the inside line rather than doing this the natural drift out wide would have done its job.
It’s causing the situation where the other driver either has to go off the circuit or crash that makes it illegal in the minds of the stewards.
If Nico had tried to get closer to the apex, yes Max could have held on around the outside, but the likelihood was Rosberg would have still made the move by pushing the Red Bull wide.
That’s why the five-second penalty was justified even if it seemed a little harsh.
What it also means now too, is Rosberg has to work out how he’s going to stop the rot.
When things aren’t going his way, he just doesn’t seem to know how to turn the tide back in his favour.
Lewis Hamilton has scored 160 of the last 175 points available, translating into a 19-point championship lead, and is looking back in that mode from 2015 when he could almost be unbeatable.
The one hope for Rosberg is Hamilton will likely be starting last at the next Grand Prix in Belgium.
He needs something to assert some superiority again and a win at Spa with Hamilton only fifth or sixth or maybe even worse could just do that.
Otherwise, a third straight missed opportunity to become champion, with this year easily the best one he had had, could well become a reality.
