F1: Rosberg Frustrated By Pace, Perez Clash

Formula 1

F1: Rosberg Frustrated By Pace, Perez Clash

Nico Rosberg and Mercedes failed to meet expectations in the Australian Grand Prix...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted March 20, 2012 Melbourne (AUS)

Nico Rosberg avoided injury in Bahrain when a bird struck his helmet while the Mercedes driver operated his car at full speed. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Nico Rosberg endured a frustrating Australian GP as Mercedes failed to fulfill the expectations that the car’s one-lap pace had generated.

The German struggled for pace in race conditions but was still set for sixth place when he had contact with Sergio Perez on the last lap, the subsequent puncture dropping him to 12th place.

“It was a bit difficult and a bit unexpected,” said Rosberg. “We were just struggling a bit more than we thought, and we need to analyze why. The car didn’t feel good in the long runs, we were not fast and we were struggling. But, yes, of course we had some good straightline speed.

“It was a good fight and everything was looking very good, actually. We would have been sixth, which would have been OK, given the circumstances. And then it’s just a very unnecessary thing that we touched on the straight, so Sergio touched my rear wheel and I got a puncture.”

“Unfortunately for us, it was not such a good day, so a bit of a setback from all the positives from yesterday (Saturday) when we were very quick.”

Rosberg was surprised when told that Perez had blamed him.

“He complained about me? So maybe it’s nobody’s fault, because I also thought he was crazy,” Rosberg said. “Maybe it’s just a racing incident, and we have to see on the video. It’s a very unfortunate incident.”
Rosberg is confident that things will get better: “I’m confident that we can learn from here and definitely move forward and improve for the next race. For sure it should be much better.”

Adam Cooper notched up his 27th season as a racing journalist in 2011. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.

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