Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMercedes

'Gust of wind' caused Austin error - Rosberg

Nico Rosberg says "a gust of wind" was the reason for his mistake which handed Lewis Hamilton the lead in the United States Grand Prix.

Leading the race with eight laps to go, Rosberg lost the rear of his car as he accelerated away from Turn 16 and ran off track. Immediately after the race, Rosberg described the incident as "unbelievable" as he was unaware what had caused him to go off, but in Mexico he revealed it was due to the weather conditions.

"It was a gust of wind… a big one!" Rosberg said. "Everybody has it, so you can’t really use it as an excuse. It is still a mistake but I understand my mistake now, which is important.

"For me to understand it, it is very unusual scenario that happened just once in all of those laps, so I understand the mistake and it helps me moving forward. I lost a lot of rear downforce as a result."

And Rosberg says he is in a positive frame of mind heading in to this weekend's Mexican Grand Prix having performed well for the majority of the race in Austin.

"The race was going extremely well and I was feeling comfortable and quick in the circumstances. The safety car came out and brought my 10secs lead to zero, which was tough at the time. I think I did a great race, except for one big mistake which cost me the win, and that sucks. Unfortunately the big mistake was the decisive one.

"I am able to reset and I am excited to be here. I want to win. That’s it. Ready to go."

Chris Medland's Mexican Grand Prix preview

Technical analysis: United States

Scene at the United States Grand Prix

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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.