Rosberg regrets missed opportunity

26 July 2015 05:31

Nico Rosberg has rued a missed opportunity to slash Lewis Hamilton's lead in the Formula One championship after he finished only eighth in an incident-fuelled Hungarian Grand Prix.

Rosberg was at one stage on course to head into the summer break with a one-point lead over Hamilton with the German in second and his team-mate running outside the top 10.

But Rosberg's fortunes changed in the most dramatic of circumstances following a late collision with Daniel Ricciardo.

His resultant puncture saw him stagger home in eighth while Hamilton finished two places ahead of him.

"It was a very disappointing day," said Rosberg, now 21 points adrift of Hamilton in the drivers' standings. "It is the sort of day I need to make the most of it against Lewis and it didn't work out."

Rosberg started in second, but while he managed to get past pole-sitter Hamilton, he was leapfrogged by the fast-starting Ferrari duo of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen to leave him third at the end of lap one.

The German then struggled to match the Ferrari pair and admitted he had already settled for the final spot on the podium.

"I was keen to hold my position because Ferrari were too quick," Rosberg said.

"I wanted to make sure I could finish third because that was the best I could hope for in today's race. We don't really understand it because we were definitely expecting to be quick."

Rosberg benefited from Raikkonen's retirement to move up to second, but he tangled with Ricciardo on the exit of turn one with five laps remaining.

The race stewards took no action for the incident, but Rosberg pinned the blame at the Red Bull driver's door.

"It was my corner because I held the line and he overdid it and went wide," Rosberg said.

"I used the track on the exit and he still had his front wing there so we touched.

"But I am not going strongly on doing anything because we have to trust the FIA and they decided not to penalise him."

Source: PA