Rosberg: This was a bad weekend

Williams #1 driver Nico Rosberg saw his run of eight consecutive points' finishes come to an end on Sunday following a dismal Italian Grand Prix.

Rosberg had been on a roll scoring points in every event since the Spanish Grand Prix back in May. However after failing to make it out of Q1 on Saturday and only lining up 18th on the grid - his worst qualifying performance of the season - the situation went from bad to worse on race day.

Indeed Rosberg and his team-mate Kazuki Nakajima made contact in the early stages, and this compromised both of them, with the former having to make two unscheduled stops as a result.

The first was for a suspected puncture which in fact transpired to be an aerodynamic problem caused by debris from Nakajima’s FW31, and the second was due to the damage sustained to the front right wheel which required a precautionary check to ensure the wheel nut locking mechanism had engaged properly. The time lost cost Rosberg dear and put him completely out of contention. He eventually finished 16th and two laps down.

"This was a bad weekend for the team," Rosberg lamented. "To begin with, we have lacked pace since the start of practice, and we then had a number of issues in the race too.

"I had a good first lap and I made up four positions overtaking on the left and the right. Then I was hit on the front left by some debris and the car felt suddenly very different, with lots of understeer, so I assumed I had punctured my tyre and requested to pit. In fact the aero balance had been massively compromised and destroyed the grip, and this was just the beginning of a difficult afternoon.

"Today is one to put behind us, I think, and we now look ahead to next race where we should be fine."

Nakajima meanwhile, despite running with bodywork damage - caused by the early incident with Rosberg - and despite carrying an additional technical problem, managed to haul himself up from 17th on the grid to finish tenth.

"We finished in a good position today considering our qualifying performance. I managed to gain a couple of positions in the first few corners and that made a big difference," added Nakajima, who like Rosberg but no mention of their little coming together. "The race pace wasn’t enough but we managed to have a good couple of laps and I think it was positive to keep [Timo] Glock behind me even though he was going longer than me.

"I think we need to find more speed from the car but the Singapore Grand Prix should be a good race for us."