F1 drivers learned from GP2 chaos in Baku, says Nico Rosberg

Two wild GP2 races littered with safety cars, retirements and overtaking had produced expectations that the European GP could be chaotic and high on entertainment.

But instead the headline event ran under green throughout, with no retirements due to accidents.

In contrast, over half the field retired in Saturday's GP2 opener, when several title contenders were among those eliminated in a first-corner pile-up, and messy safety car restarts in race two led to a series of collisions and a race ban for Honda protege Nobuharu Matsushita.

Asked why the F1 race had been so much quieter, Rosberg replied: "Experience helps in that case.

"We're all much more experienced and we're able to avoid the incidents better and we also learned a lot from what was going on in GP2.

"We were watching and that was mayhem so I think we picked up a few things there as well."

Runner-up Sebastian Vettel felt the tight confines and high speeds of the Baku track made the F1 drivers more risk aware.

"I think it speaks for the quality," he said.

"We've talked a lot about this track being high risk, dangerous.

"It reminds me - a couple of months ago I had a very nice lunch with Sir Stirling Moss. Obviously in 'their' time, you can argue it was very dangerous everywhere they went.

"He said it was a big deal of the reason why he jumped in the car, because it was dangerous, otherwise anybody could do it.

"So the thrill of it was exactly that challenge.

"We had some corners here where you don't want to think about what's happening if you get it wrong, very little room for mistakes and error but then it definitely makes you more alert, you're awake.

"Obviously you try to go as hard as you can and push, I don't think we were taking it easy, any one of us, but equally, obviously, you don't take any stupid approaches to risk because it could end quite badly."

World champion Lewis Hamilton, who could only progress to fifth from 10th on the grid amid problems with his engine settings, admitted he had anticipated a more mixed-up grand prix.

"I was expecting a fun race like it was in GP2 and it obviously wasn't like that," he said.

"I guess everyone was surprised, but everyone obviously drove well."

Fernando Alonso, an ambassador for the event, remained confident F1 could entertain more in Baku in future years.

"The show today was maybe a little bit less than expected, because we saw the GP2 race earlier and got a bit excited, and F1 had a bit less action than we expected," he admitted.

"But it's the way it is - some races will be more fun, some less. Maybe it will be different next year."