Rosberg was p***** off

Nico Rosberg’s Canadian Grand Prix weekend was won and lost on the first corner.

Both Mercedes had fairly poor starts, leaving the door open for the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel to launch down the inside of the first corner from the grid.

Rosberg had a slightly better start than team-mate Hamilton and got alongside him at the first corner.

The problem for the German, as it has been on numerous occasions, it was on the outside of the corner.

An understeering Hamilton, was never going to leave Rosberg any room on the outside of the corner, he was always going to take his natural line, Hamilton hasn’t left room in the past and when roles have been reversed, Rosberg has done the exact same thing.

The two Merc’s wheels clashed, forcing Rosberg on to the grass and the escape road, once the German had rejoined the track he was swamped by the chasing pack and he fell down to ninth.

‘We touched and I was off and that’s it. It didn’t work out, I was very p***** off in that moment but that’s racing in the end and it’s my job to make sure I’m in front after a battle like that next time.’ he told Sky Sports.

Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff told motorsport.com: ‘It was a hard manoeuvre, Lewis said he had an understeer, and that is what I would say! From the team’s perspective, starting one and two and you come out of Turn 1, two and nine – that is not pleasant.

Wolff however did question why Rosberg would position himself where he did: ‘The question is how much you can manage it from the outside, Turn 1 in Canada is a difficult one and there is a concrete run off area.

‘If there was a wall there you wouldn’t have the issue, but if you have the inside you dictate the line.’

Rosberg battled back to finish fifth, not that it pleased the championship leader: ‘It was an uphill battle trying to fight back, We also nearly run out of fuel which is why I couldn’t attack Max, though he did a very good job at the end.

‘Then I had to drop back, try again, drop back, try again. In the end it went completely pear-shaped. A frustrating race, of course.’

Rosberg’s 2016 Formula One World Championship lead over Hamilton has now dropped from 43 points ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix to 9.