Fastest race lap in today's Canadian GP will be no consolation for Nico Rosberg who sees his championship lead over team mate Lewis Hamilton dwindle down to just nine points.
The German driver was left chasing for most of the afternoon after losing ground at Turn 1 as he ran wide following a close encounter with Hamilton. The mishap bumped the Mercedes driver all the way down to 10th which pretty much ended his hopes of victory there and then.
"Sebastian had a great start and I had a decent one," said Rosberg.
"Lewis did a really hard racing maneuver, we touched and I was off. I was very pissed off in the moment but that's racing. It's my job to make sure that I'm in the front after a battle like that next time."
Rosberg eventually moved up the ranks, running in the top five, and dealing with multiple warnings lighting up his dashboard. But a slow puncture off-set his initial one-stop strategy and sent him back down in 7th.
He fought his way up into the top 5 once again but stumbled upon a massively resistant Max Verstappen.
"It was an uphill battle, trying to fight back, and we nearly ran out of fuel, which was why I could not properly attack Max in the end. I had to fall back, then attack and then fall back again."
On the penultimate lap, Rosberg tried to outbrake Verstappen's Red Bull into the chicane but overdid it and spun as a result. In the end the Mercedes driver was lucky to keep his engine running and salvage fifth place at the checkered flag.
"It all went completely pear-shaped in the end," Rosberg admitted. "But I managed to carry it home still. It was a frustrating race of course.
"For sure we had a great car today, which Lewis showed, so it's even more disappointing to finish fifth."
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