Rosberg on Q3 error: I ‘just overdid it’

Nico Rosberg admits he probably pushed a bit too much in the closing stages of Q3, as he tried to beat Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton to pole position for the Austrian Grand Prix.

The German comfortably dominated both the first and second phase of qualifying but saw Hamilton get ahead of him before the pair’s final runs.

While Rosberg looked primed to reclaim the top stop after the reigning world champion spun at Turn 1, he ultimately shot straight at the final corner and beached his W06 in the gravel trap.

“I’m not sure (what happened),” Rosberg said. “I went to the astroturf out of the second to last corner and maybe that was still a bit wet or something or I just over did it, I’m note sure.

“I just lost it there into the last corner, I’m definitely gutted. But Lewis was two tenths quicker than my lap time and I was exactly up two tenths up to that point, so I knew I had go for it because it was very close and I just overdid it.”

Rosberg also confessed he was not aware of Hamilton’s mistake, but thinks “it would not have made any difference” because he still had to beat his team-mate’ provisional pole.

Plenty of drivers have gone off track since the start of the Austrian Grand Prix weekend, especially at the uphill first corner as well as the fast double right-hander that closes the lap.

“This track generally is quite difficult,” explains Rosberg. “Because you’ve got to get the braking right and you’ve got to attack to get a lap time around here. Somehow, It’s a very challenging track and easy to make mistakes.”

Click here for the gallery of the Formula Una girls at the Austrian Grand Prix

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