Q: Nico, it was a really eventful race that in the end probably didn’t deliver what you had hoped for. You started from pole position - but then it went downhill. What are you taking with you from that race?
Nico Rosberg: In my emotional world the last lap is what sticks: that I didn’t manage to pass Lewis [Hamilton]. That is what is consuming my mind right now. Yes, it was an eventful race and I had my share of bad luck with the safety car coming out when I have just passed the pit lane entry, then the brakes started to overheat, so it was a case of accumulating problems.
Q: The pit wall asked Lewis over the team radio to let you past - which he didn’t do. How upset are you about that?
NR: I don’t want to make any comments on that now. We will have to discuss that internally.
Q: Were you ever close enough to him that when the message came you would have been able to overtake him without him slowing down?
NR: As I just said we have to sit down and analyse the situation.
Q: In the same situation and receiving that ‘order’, would you have moved over and let him pass?
NR: That is too much of an ‘if’ right now. That would be pure speculation and it is not my intention to feed speculation right now.
Q: Your attempt to pass Lewis led you pretty far off the track - was that intentional?
NR: In that part you can outrun the car on the inside - we know that it is possible there. I just wasn’t able to do it.
Q: It was a sizzling last lap for all who watched - how was it for you as one of the actors in that scene?
NR: I was driving at full attack - it was necessary to try to overtake [Hamilton] - but I didn’t manage it. And that is really annoying.
Q: When did you realise that you could attack the leading trio?
NR: Actually it was part of the strategy that I would be able to catch the leader towards the end of the race. In hindsight it probably was not a one hundred percent perfect strategy - but that is always easy to say afterwards. A problem was also - as I just mentioned - that my brakes started to overheat and that my tyres were almost finished. So in the end one thing added to the other…
Q: Have you ever before had that compelling wish for one more lap!
NR: Yes indeed, this race was one lap too short for me. But that is racing. Sometimes the odds are against you.