Nico Rosberg was happy with his fifth placed finish in this afternoon’s European Grand Prix, despite yet again missing out on the podium.
The German drove a fine race, and might have snatched fourth in the later stages, had it not been for Heikki Kovalainen.
Sadly the day did not run smoothly for Kazuki Nakajima, suffering a puncture which dropped the Japanese driver down into eighteenth place.
Nico Rosberg – 5th: “I did enjoy the race, but the heat really took most of the fun out of it. It wasn’t nice, but it was still a good result for the team. Fifth again, after starting seventh, is not bad, and gives us more points. I was hoping to beat Raikkonen today but he was too fast. Our car seems to suit every track we go to, and the team is doing well to keep development going from race to race. It’s nice that we are always up there and I hope we continue like this, and possibly make a step forward onto the podium soon.”
Kazuki Nakajima – 18th: “It was another disappointing afternoon for me. It was all over in qualifying really. I was in 13th when I had the puncture and that really finished my race. Just a few laps before the end, I then had some kind of problem so I had to stop early.”
Rod Nelson, Chief Operations Engineer: “Kazuki was compromised by his problems in qualifying so we decided to go for a long first stint which was looking reasonable until his puncture. We then had to retire his car early as it had some damage from the puncture which could have harmed the gearbox. Nico drove a strong race. We were hoping to get close to Raikkonen but the second stint wasn’t strong enough which, in turn, brought Alonso into play. We managed the gap to Alonso to keep fifth place which we are happy with.”
