F1: Rosberg surprised 'awesome' move got penalty

Mercedes Formula 1 driver Nico Rosberg says he was surprised to be penalized for what he initially thought was an "awesome" German Grand Prix overtaking move on Max Verstappen.

Rosberg was recovering from a slow start in his home F1 race, and trying to pass the Red Bull driver for what was then fifth place in the middle phase of the grand prix.

He fired up the inside at Turn 6, and both drivers ran towards the outside of the corner, forcing Verstappen wide. Rosberg was then handed a five-second time penalty for his next pit stop by stewards.

• Verstappen thought he and Rosberg would crash

"It took me by surprise, definitely," he said. "I didn't expect a penalty for that.

"It was racing. I was really ecstatic at the time because I thought, 'Wow, that was awesome, I came from miles behind.' And I was very happy to get the position because that meant I would have got second place at least – it was damage limitation. I was very surprised to get a penalty for it."

Rosberg denied that the move was "comparable" to his last-lap run-in with teammate Lewis Hamilton at the Red Bull Ring earlier this month, for which he was also penalized.

"[It was] different positioning, I was clearly ahead this time," he said.

Verstappen's defense against Kimi Raikkonen in Hungary last weekend drew criticism from some drivers, namely that he had moved in the braking area. It was discussed in the drivers' briefing at Hockenheim, and when asked if that was a factor, Rosberg said: "For sure, that made it more difficult. It was discussed on Friday that we're supposed to try to avoid that."

STOPWATCH CAPS MISERABLE RACE

While Hamilton won his sixth grand prix in seven starts, Rosberg ultimately finished fourth behind both Red Bulls, and now trails the British driver by 19 points in the championship. His afternoon was capped by essentially serving an eight-second penalty in the pits rather than a five, owing to what Mercedes boss Toto Wolff called a "stopwatch failure."

"Even in a Formula 1 team with all of the high-tech [elements], if you use instruments that you don't usually use like a stopwatch they can fail," he said. "The stopwatch didn't start properly and once we realized, we had to take it safe, and this is why it took longer than normal.

"We could have also counted, but we relied on the stopwatch and it let us down."

Originally on Autosport.com