Sebastian Vettel has apologised for making contact with Nico Rosberg in the first corner of the Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday, which spun the Mercedes around causing Rosberg to drop all the way back to the rear.
Vettel had initially put the matter down as a racing incident, while also pointing the finger at Max Verstappen who squeezed him down the inside in the three-wide incident at Sepang.
Vettel was subsequently handed a three-place grid penalty for next weekend's Japanese Grand Prix after the race stewards concluded that Vettel had made "a small error entering to the inside of turn 1 that led to the contact," and that the indiecent had been "predominantly the fault of the [Ferrari] driver."
After the race, Nico Rosberg revealed in his latest YouTube video blog that Vettel had subsequently contacted him to apologise for the costly contact.
"Sebastian just called me actually," Rosberg said. "He apologised, which is nice. It doesn't get me back the points that I lost, but it's still nice to hear that."
Rosberg himself had received little advance warning about being spun out.
"The start was good - I was just on the outside of Lewis and felt a massive hit on the rear which spun me around. For me I was sure that was it, I was sure the car was broken.
"Of course I spin turned it as quickly as possible and got going, and surprisingly the car was still okay. The thing is, it got a bit damaged but still more or less okay to drive it. I was really surprised.
"Then of course, full attack - that was all I could do. It was quite enjoyable at times to fight through the pack like that and pass left, right everywhere.
"Got through all the way and then fighting Kimi, my move was a bit for sure very aggressive and I accept to get a penalty for that, and that's it
"Thankfully it didn't hurt my result, so P3 - which of course was good damage limitation today even though I set out to win the race so not idea, but okay. That's how it is."
Rosberg still expected to lose ground in the drivers championship to his team mate Lewis Hamilton, but a late engine failure put the Briton out of the race and meant that Malaysia ended up proving a big boost to Rosberg's title hopes.
"Points-wise a good day for me of course even though not for the right reasons because I want to get them on merit," said Rosberg.
"I can understand Lewis' situation of course because I've been there as well and it's just horrible when you deserve to win a race and the technology lets you down. I'm sure he's really, really gutted - that's very understandable of course."
"Now I'm just flying to Japan, going to have a few days off there," he added. "A few days in Japan relaxing and then off to Suzuka, of course a great opportunity there again to win in Suzuka."
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