Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMercedes

Tyre failure ‘quite a shock’ - Rosberg

Nico Rosberg admits his tyre failure in practice for the Belgian Grand Prix delivered “quite a shock” and says it was simply down to luck that he didn’t crash heavily.

While on a long run towards the end of FP2, Rosberg was at full throttle approaching Blanchimont when his right rear tyre spectacularly failed, pitching him sideways at high speed. Rosberg avoided contact with either tyre barrier and come to rest in the run-off area, which he admits was down to pure luck.

“We don’t know [the cause] yet and it would not make sense to speculate about it, but yeah it was quite a shock because I just don’t expect it,” Rosberg said. “Suddenly at 306kph or 190mph or however you want to put it, to completely lose control is not good.

“Unfortunately it wasn’t down to my skill, it was just luck that I stayed away from the wall, but that was good.”

Rosberg fastest despite dramatic tyre failure in FP2

Asked if he worries about such a failure, Rosberg replied: “I don’t worry but it is a bit of a dent in the confidence, such incidents like today.”

However, Rosberg took the positives from being fastest in both practice sessions ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

“It’s going well for now. It’s been a good start to the weekend and I’m feeling comfortable. At the moment I’m still one step ahead of Lewis and that means tonight he is more likely to take over my set-up than vice versa because he’s a bit unsure what is going on. That’s usually the tendency, so it’s always better to start the weekend like that.”

Click here for a gallery of the biggest crashes at Spa-Francorchamps

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.