adminBARCELONA. — Mercedes will give Nico Rosberg every chance of turning the tables on teammate Lewis Hamilton in Monaco next week after he lost out to the Briton for the fourth race in a row in Spain on Sunday. Rosberg’s fourth successive second place, after winning the Australian season-opener, left him three points behind Hamilton and “gutted” at the loss of the overall Formula One lead for the first time this year.
One more lap at the Circuit de Catalunya might have seen the German pass Hamilton, who took the chequered flag just 0.6 of a second ahead after being chased to the line, but he was more concerned about the start than the finish.
“It’s a bit of a weakness that we have at the moment,” Rosberg said of his getaway from second place on the grid with Hamilton on pole.
“Just inconsistent and now I’ve had a couple of bad starts in a row. Actually, three bad starts in three races. And that’s costly . . . need to work on that.”
Qualifying and a quick start is even more crucial in Monaco, where overtaking is extremely tricky on the tight and twisting streets — particularly if the man in front is your teammate with the same equipment.
Mercedes motorsport head Toto Wolff, who again assured the fans that his two drivers would be allowed to race freely, said the team were working hard to resolve Rosberg’s problem.
“It seems to be a problem related to the clutch,” he told reporters.
“That is a special project of ours. We expected some improvement for Barcelona, which didn’t kick in as expected and we just need to sort it out for Monaco because that’s crucial there. We discussed it in the debrief right now.”
Rosberg won in Monaco last year and the German knows every kink, kerb and corner of what amounts to a home race in a principality he grew up in as son of 1982 champion Keke.
“Lewis did a great job the whole weekend and was just that little bit ahead,” he said on Sunday.
“But there’s a lot of positives for me to take out of it.
“I’m fully motivated to just try to get that little bit extra and to edge him out next time — and it’s do-able.” — Reuters.
Online Reporter