Flat spot costly for Rosberg

Nico Rosberg said that a flat spot picked up during the middle stint of his Korean Grand Prix compromised his race and cost him points.

Rosberg looked competitive in the first stint, keeping pace with Jenson Button and the Ferraris and even jumping Button in the pit stops. Button soon regained the place though, and even though Rosberg was now ahead of the Ferraris, he then had a heavy lock up defending from Felipe Massa which forced him to pit earlier for the final time.

Rosberg said the long final stint was his undoing as he was unable to defend his seventh place against Jaime Alguersuari on the final lap.

"I had good speed at the start of the race today but after we changed to the prime tyres, it became more difficult as the degradation was too strong. I had some nice battles against Jenson and the Ferraris, and was pushing hard to defend my position against Felipe and Fernando in the middle stint.

"During this, I flat-spotted my front tyres so I had to pit earlier than expected which made my last stint on the primes very long. I didn't have enough grip by the end and so I just wasn't able to defend the position against Jaime. A difficult race for me today but I'm still happy to score some points."

ESPNF1