Nico Rosberg satisfied with 10th place finish at 2011 Japanese Grand Prix – Formula 1 news
Nico Rosberg of Mercedes GP has termed his 10th place finish at the 2011 Japanese Grand Prix as decent after he had to start the race from the 23rd spot on the grid.
Rosberg said that his original aim was to get anywhere between 8th and 10th, which he achieved admirably. The low grid start was due to a hydraulic problem which prevented Rosberg from setting a time during qualifying.
It proved to be somewhat helpful for him as well, as he had fresh tyres for the race. This gave Rosberg the chance to opt for an aggressive strategy and started to pick his way back through to the points. He manoeuvred skilfully to overtake at the Suzuka
circuit, which is not known to be an easy track for overtaking among other hurdles the circuit poses.
Talking about his showing, Rosberg said, “I'm pleased to score a point today and had fun out there with a few nice overtaking maneuvers.”
“This is definitely one of the toughest tracks for overtaking so starting from the back of the grid meant that I had a pretty tough job. Before the race, I hoped to achieve between eighth and 10th places and, whilst it would have been nice to be a bit higher,
it's still a decent result,” he added.
Rosberg mentioned the team effort put in to get the results as well. He praised the team for their quick pit stops and a good strategy, but he still felt that he ended up on the lower end of his aim at the Suzuka circuit. The Mercedes GP driver also congratulated
Vettel for his second title win in a row.
Rosberg started the 2011 season slowly. It was the first time Rosberg was unable to score a point in the opening two races of a season. He went on to pick the first point of the season in China, so for the next four races, Rosberg and Mercedes GP would be
looking to improve on that showing, and as far as we have seen, things are looking positive.
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