Mercedes driver suffered puncture after contact late in Sunday's race
Sunday 26 July 2015 20:16, UK
Nico Rosberg and Toto Wolff both pointed the finger of blame at Daniel Ricciardo after the Red Bull driver collided with Rosberg's Mercedes in the closing stages of the Hungarian GP.
As the pair scrapped over second place, Ricciardo attempted to out-brake and go around the outside of the Mercedes driver at Turn One. As Rosberg understeered towards the exit kerb, his left rear tyre tagged the front of the Red Bull's front wing, puncturing his tyre and forcing him to limp back to the pits.
At that point of the race, Mercedes felt Rosberg still had a chance to hunt down Sebastian Vettel for the win and at the very least take a large chunk out of team-mate Lewis Hamilton’s Championship lead.
Instead, he finished behind the world champion after his stop, leaving him frustrated afterwards.
"It was going very, very well. I was pleased with the race until lap 64 and after that just nowhere," he told Sky Sports F1.
"That is a real pity and sport is really tough sometimes to lose all those points. But that is the way it is.
"I assumed that it was my corner as I took the ideal line and he went straight on because he braked too late. But he still had his front wing there and didn't back out of it. But the FIA decided not to take any action so I guess no-one was at fault then."
Rosberg's view was echoed by team boss Wolff, who couldn't fathom why the Red Bull driver hadn’t been penalised.
"Ricciardo's incident with Nico was questionable to me," he said.
Pressed on why he thought it was questionable, Wolff added: "From what I saw on the cameras it was more a Ricciardo mistake. But [FIA Race Director] Charlie [Whiting] decided it wasn't to be penalised and if Charlie decides that, that is it."
F1 now prepares for its summer shutdown ahead of next month's Belgian GP, but Rosberg says he cannot even look forward to the break.
"I just want to get back out racing. I am gutted about today," he said.
After Sunday’s race, Hamilton has stretched his championship lead to 21 points, while Vettel is now just 21 points behind Rosberg.
