Q & A with Nico Rosberg

The wrong tyre choices, however, left the German driver without a chance to score a good result, and he had to settle for eighth position when the race was stopped.

AUTOSPORT heard Rosberg's impressions about the Sepang event.

Q. Was that one of the most farcical races you have been involved in?

Nico Rosberg: No. We had several like this last year. It was a great race for us. We took the lead right after the start, and it has been a while since Williams was there on pure performance. It was really nice. And then we were running second just because the Brawn's were a bit quicker, as we expected.

Then the weather came down and it was very, very difficult conditions. I was out there with the wrong tyres so often. We took the wrong decisions, but it was really hard to take the right decisions. In the end, it is a bit of a disappointing result. Eighth place is still a point and that is important, and we have a consistently quick car so we will be doing well for the next couple of races.

Q. Was that one of the best starts of your career?

NR: Yeah, definitely. That was not too bad - but I have to thank the engineers also for that because it is not too much that the driver can do in the initial part of the start. It is a lot down to the engineers.

Q. You must have enjoyed being out there in front?

NR: Yes, it is super. It is also one of my strengths - the car was going well and just to push every lap in the race, every lap the same but a little bit quicker, it is one of my strengths. It was going well and I was able to beat Jarno Trulli fair and square, even though he was on a better strategy than me. So it was really cool.

Q. How much confidence does that give you moving forward to the next couple of races?

NR: Well, we need to be careful because we are the fourth best team at the moment. Red Bull Racing is ever so slightly ahead of us, I think, so we need to be a bit careful. It is all about development this year, but we are right up there which is still a nice thing.

Q. Was it right to start this race at 5pm?

NR: Was it the right thing? Yesterday it rained at 2pm, so it is just difficult. Still we had some exciting racing for the best part of an hour so we cannot complain too much.

Q. Were you out on full wets when it was only a little bit damp?

NR: I was out on the wrong tyres most of the time! But I think everybody else was too.

Q. How difficult was it on full wet tyres when it wasn't really raining?

NR: So I was on full wets in the dry, which was very difficult because as soon as it started raining a little bit the tyres could not take any water at all. Then I went to inters which worked out well, until it started tipping down. Then I went to full wets until it started tipping down so much that even the full wets, you could not drive. So, it was quite challenging.