Was it right to penalise Rosberg? Rosberg says no

The biggest talking point of the German Grand Prix was the five second time penalty for Nico Rosberg.

The one time leader of the 2016 Formula One World Championship was penalised for his manoeuvre on Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen.

Coming down to the hairpin, Rosberg had the speed advantage on Verstappen thanks to Mercedes power and DRS. Verstappen, as he has shown before can be robust in defending and he forced Rosberg to go on the inside at a tight angle.

It was then at this stage that the incident which was under investigation took place.

Rosberg on the inside didn’t appear to turn as early as he could have done to take a more usual line for the corner, this saw his Mercedes run all the way to the outside of the turn and the curb forcing the Red Bull off of the track.

It was similar to the incident with Hamilton where Rosberg collided with Hamilton after robustly defending his position.

On this occasion however it could be argued that if Rosberg had attempted to take a tighter line, he would have locked up and lost control, but the race stewards deemed Rosberg at fault.

?Without the penalty I was in front of the Red Bulls; with the penalty I couldn?t challenge them. [Finishing fourth] was down to the penalty. Rosberg told formula1.com.

?I was very surprised [by the penalty], I didn?t expect it at all. I thought the battle with Max was good, that?s about it.?

Unsurprisingly there was little sympathy from Max Verstappen or Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner.

Speaking to Sky Sports Verstappen said: ‘He braked really late. When he came next to me, he just didn’t turn in – it was a bit like in Austria [when Rosberg collided with Hamilton]. He forced me off the track, I could still see his hands going straight so l don’t know if that is full lock [he said sarcastically].’

Horner added: ‘The problem is [Rosberg] did a pretty bad job of it, The golden rule in a job like that is lock your fronts up and look as if you can’t stop. The problem is he looked like he was driving to Cologne, and that’s a bit naughty.

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