Rosberg was prepared for low after perfect start

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Nico Rosberg says he was mentally prepared for a low like the Monaco Grand Prix after a perfect start to the F1 season in the opening four races.

Having won the final three races of 2015, Rosberg continued that form at the start of this season by winning in Australia, Bahrain, China and Russia. However, his 100% record ended when he and team-mate Lewis Hamilton collided in Spain and then a poor weekend in Monaco saw Rosberg finish seventh while Hamilton won.

With Rosberg describing the Monaco race as "very painful" as he had to let Hamilton through early on, he says he was mentally prepared for tougher weekends.

"There have been [difficult] days and there will be more days in the future," Rosberg said. "Racing is always about up and downs and I was ready for the down because I had no expectation of keeping on winning every single race, that’s for sure.

"It wasn’t the case any way since Barcelona, so I was ready to have a down and to navigate through it and come back through the other side.

"Of course I am now still in the process of digesting, not as easy as that but I will be full on it again for Montreal and fighting there for the win."

Following the result in Monaco, Rosberg heads to next weekend's Canadian Grand Prix with a 24-point lead in the drivers' championship.

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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.