Rosberg believes Grosjean not to blame for Abu Dhabi GP crash

Lotus driver Grosjean has earned plenty of censure from rivals - and a one-race ban for the Italian GP - due to the litany of lap-one crashes he has been involved in during his first full Formula 1 season.

His tangle with Rosberg's Mercedes at Yas Marina, which was his eighth early incident of 2012, left both heading for the pits with damage. But Rosberg was adamant there was no need for controversy in this case.

"I can't blame him, I can't blame myself either," said Rosberg in his post-race video blog.

"I think it was just a racing incident. Things just got a bit tight."

Rosberg's race ended for good when he was launched over Narain Karthikeyan's slowing HRT shortly afterwards. The German played down the frightening incident.

"It was quite scary because I just saw blue sky," he said.

"But in the end I was quite fortunate because it was not a very bad accident."

Between his dramas, Rosberg believes Mercedes made a small step forward in Abu Dhabi amid a run of disappointing races. The team has not scored points since Singapore in September.

"All in all it was obviously a very poor weekend. But there was a highlight for me: qualifying," he said.

"Eighth place was quite good because it's definitely an upward trend for us to be eighth, one tenth away from the best Ferrari, six tenths away from the best Red Bull.

"That's positive for sure, it shows that we're making progress."

Rosberg was also pleased with his race laptimes prior to the Karthikeyan incident.

"The pace was quite good at that point, quite quick," he said.

"Pace-wise there seems to be an improvement there."