Q & A with Nico Rosberg
In an incident that could have given Brawn the Constructors' Championship, Nico Rosberg escaped that penalty that Jenson Button expected after the Japanese Grand Prix
Rosberg, fifth in the race, was summoned by the stewards after Button claimed the Williams driver had been too quick during the safety car period. In the end, the stewads deemed Rosberg had done nothing wrong.
After the race, AUTOSPORT heard Rosberg's view of the incident.
Q. How confident were you when you got up there that there would not be a penalty?
Nico Rosberg: Well, you are never confident when you get called to the stewards. I was confident that we had a good case, and that is it. There is always a certain amount of concern when you get pulled up there, but then we had a very, strong clear reasoning for it.
Q. Do you feel a bit like it was at school when the teacher calls you?
NR: It is not nice. It is not nice to be in that room up there. Yes, it is like you are back at school. You've done something wrong and you are sitting in the headmaster's room.
Q. You were coming out of Spoon when the safety car came out. When did you realise that the fuel light was over-riding the delta time?
NR: Well, I never had the delta time. I realised pretty soon - but I thought it would still come. I just wasn't sure.
Q. So what was your reaction?
NR: Well, the reaction was that first of all, drive safely - which I did to 100 per cent. I slowed down and was very slow through the accident and everything. Then, my reaction was - let's give it a guess where we are now. I had no clue where I was in terms of the time, and I was very close actually.
Q. So where did you lift off?
NR: I lifted off on the straight well before the accident corner, and I didn't know where the accident was when I lifted off. I drove through there, saw the accident, drove slowly and that was it.
Q. Were you worried about it though?
NR: No. At the time, no, because I could not see anything. I knew I went very slowly and safely, and when I could not see anything then that was the important thing - to drive safely, which is the whole purpose. I did that 100 per cent. I was very safe.
Q. Were you happy with the race performance today, because you seemed to make good progress with a heavy fuel load?
NR: Well, I just wasn't quick enough the whole weekend. So the race pace was good for us. It was a good haul of points, but not really good - that's a podium or whatever. Again, a nice decent number of points.
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