Rosberg says sixth was the maximum

Rosberg finished behind the Brawns, the Ferraris and Mark Webber's Red Bull, with the German proving to be the 'best of the rest'.

"I've got to be happy with sixth place today, more just wasn't possible and we did the best we could have in the circumstances," said Rosberg. "It was a great start with lots going on, but I managed to come through and it set me up well for the early phase of the race.

"We then did a long middle stint on primes as we were worried about the durability of the option tyre, but they seemed to hold on much better than expected in the last stint, perhaps due to the amount of rubber down on the circuit by the end of the race.

"That said, I always enjoy racing here, it is a huge challenge that requires you to be inch perfect and it was very demanding out there."

Team-mate Kazuki Nakajima retired from the race with two laps to go after he lost control of his car and crashed at the Mirabeau corner.

"The start and the initial part of the race was good for me, but ultimately it was frustrating as I always seemed to be picking up traffic out of the pitlane or responding to blue flags and then losing track position to the one-stoppers," he said.

"In the final analysis the outcome was disappointing, I was on the option tyre and I was pushing perhaps too hard when I had my accident nearly at the finish, but at least I had a good feeling with the car today."