Nico Rosberg had a mixed day in Spa as he received a penalty only for it to turn out to be not as harsh as he had expected.
Rosberg got a five place penalty after a problem with his gearbox – which was new for this event – in the morning. However, on the reshuffled grid he has actually only dropped two spots and will start 14th, because three other drivers also got penalties and slipped behind him.
Rosberg didn’t make it out of Q2 after getting stuck behind Sebastien Buemi while trying not to impedge his own team mate, Michael Schumacher. He’s committed to a full set set-up for the race.
“The main issue was someone slowed down unnecessarily in front of me, and that impeded me in my last lap,” said the German. “It was a generally difficult situation, because I had Michael behind and it was very tight to make another lap. So it was not ideal.
“Knowing that I was going to start between 13th and 17th or something I went for quite an aggressive rain set-up. So I’m hoping for rain tomorrow. That’s the only chance, or that’s going to be a good chance, to achieve something. Also in the wet conditions it felt quite good out there today with slicks, so I think we can do well if it rains.”
Adam Cooper F1 