Rosberg 'very surprised' to be penalised for Verstappen move

Nico Rosberg says he was "very surprised" to be penalised for his move on Max Verstappen during the German Grand Prix.

Having had a poor start, Rosberg was attempting to recover from fourth place when he attacked Verstappen at Turn 6, with the Red Bull driver moving across slightly as he threatened to close the door. Rosberg ran deep into the corner and Verstappen was forced off at the hairpin as a result, with the stewards handing the German a five-second time penalty.

Taking the penalty at his final pit stop, Rosberg was restricted to fourth place at the finish and said the penalty was unexpected.

"I thought it was a good battle [with VES] and I was very surprised that I got penalised – I didn’t expect that at all," Rosberg said.

"It was racing, you know? I was really ecstatic at the time and that was awesome that I came from mile behind and was very happy to get the position because it meant second place at least. Damage limitation of sorts, and I was surprised to get a penalty for it."

Asked if he felt the stewards are being harsh on him, Rosberg replied: "Nope.

"It just took me by surprise definitely and I didn’t expect the penalty for that."

And Rosberg says there are no similarities to his incident with team-mate Lewis Hamilton in Austria, when the two collided on the last lap as Rosberg attempted to defend the inside line.

"It’s not comparable. If you look at the positioning, I was clearly ahead this time and it’s not comparable."

REPORT: Hamilton beats Red Bulls to extend championship lead

AS IT HAPPENED: German Grand Prix

Silbermann says ... Backing the wrong horse

Exclusive Alex Wurz Q&A: GPDA chairman "surprised" by Halo delay

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

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.