Rosberg 'respects' but disagrees with stewards

Nico Rosberg says he "respects" the stewards decision but disagrees he was to blame for the collision with team-mate Lewis Hamilton in the Austrian Grand Prix.

The two Mercedes drivers clashed at Turn 2 on the final lap of the race as Hamilton attacked around the outside, with Rosberg forcing the defending champion wide before they collided on the outside of the corner. The contact broke Rosberg's front wing and saw him drop from first to fourth by the end of the lap, with the stewards handing him a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision.

Rosberg acknowledged the decision places blame on him, but explained his thinking behind the move and said he disagrees with the verdict.

"That was a massively tough one," Rosberg said on a Facebook video to fans. "This sport sometimes can be real bad, I'm really frustrated. It's really hard to get over something like that because I had the win in the bag and I was convinced I'd win it. Then to lose it like that on the last lap, especially in those circumstances, was a pretty tough one.

"The race all-in-all was one of my best races. It was awesome, coming through from sixth, passing everybody and then leading the race and having a good strategy and everything, it was going real cool. Just at the end of the race Lewis had one soft left - I didn't have a soft this weekend, a second one, that was just luck - so he had one soft and that was a big help to him.

"Then in the last laps my tyres and my brakes got really tired and that gave him a chance and a shot to try and pass me. I defended the inside, I was on the inside and felt I was in a strong position, I was convinced I would make this stick.

"So I went deep because that was the best way at that point in time to try and defend my corner, to keep him on the outside. Of course, I need to leave him room on the track, which I was doing, and then Lewis just completely caught me by surprise and turned in. OK he said in an interview that I was in his blind  spot and couldn't see me, so that might be the reason but he just completely caught me by surprise that he turned in before we got near to the edge of the track even though I was there.

"So then I couldn't react and we collided which was absolutely devastating in the incident. Then I got unlucky, my car was very, very damaged. So I lost three positions after that. I lost the win and also lost second and third place. So a horrible end to the weekend.

"I got penalised now from the stewards for the incident. I got ten seconds which doesn't change my result but still of course they give me the blame which sucks. I respect that. I'm of a different opinion but it doesn't help.

"Every time for the team it is bad if we collide like that because it is the worst thing that could happen. We didn’t lose too many points today, but for the team it is not good. That is tough."

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