Unhappy Rosberg angry at his costly mistake

Nico Rosberg was left seething after his Formula One drivers’ championship lead over Lewis Hamilton was cut to single-digit figures at the Canadian Grand Prix.

The Mercedes stable-mates touched wheels at the first turn in Montreal on Sunday, as Sebastian Vettel launched into first place off the line, however Hamilton maintained track position while Rosberg dropped down to 10th.

Rosberg eventually recovered to finish fifth, but Hamilton benefitted from a victory in strategy to win his second successive race and cut the deficit in the standings to just nine points.

While Rosberg happily accepted the early drama was a racing incident, he was far from pleased.

“Sebastian had a great start, I had a decent one and Lewis had a really bad one,” he told Sky F1. “In Barcelona, I went round the outside of Lewis and it worked out really well, I went for the same one again today and he did a really hard, racing manoeuvre.

“We touched and I was off and that’s it. It didn’t work out, I was very p***** off in that moment but that’s racing in the end and it’s my job to make sure I’m in front after a battle like that next time.

“Of course that was very costly for me because I lost a lot of places.From then it was an uphill battle trying to fight back. We also nearly run out of fuel which is why I couldn’t attack Max [Verstappen], though he did a very good job at the end.

“Then I had to drop back, try again, drop back, try again. In the end it went completely pear-shaped. Frustrating race, of course.”