29/10/2015
NEWS STORY
Nico Rosberg has blamed his late mistake in Sunday's US GP on a "gust of wind".
The German was leading when he ran wide in T16 just a few laps from the end, thereby handing victory, and a third title, to teammate Lewis Hamilton.
Speaking after the race the German blamed the incident on wheelspin, claiming he had never suffered anything like it in all his years of racing.
A few days later and Rosberg, who is now locked in battle with Sebastian Vettel for the runner-up spot in the 2015 championship, says it was a gust of wind that caught him out.
"It was a gust of wind," he told reporters in Mexico. "A big one… I'm serious!
"But everybody has it so you can't really use it as an excuse," he added. "It is still a mistake but I understand my mistake now and that's important. For me to understand it, that it was a very unusual scenario which happened just once in all those laps and everything... that helps me a lot moving forward."
Though the title is lost (again), the German insists there will be no letting up.
"OK, the constructors' championship is done and the drivers' is done but I want to win," he said, "I'm sure Lewis wants to win, Vettel wants to win. So it's just going to be a battle pretty much as usual actually."
As for that gust of wind… considering McLaren used it earlier this year it is slowly becoming the F1 equivalent of 'the dog ate my homework' or 'cheque's in the post'.
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