HOCKENHEIM: The stopwatch never lies they say in Formula One but in Nico Rosberg’s case it did and that was one of several things which went wrong for the German in a woeful home race on Sunday. Rosberg was hit with a five-second time penalty for forcing Max Verstappen off the track in his bid to overtake the Red Bull on lap 29 of the 67-lap race at Hockenheim.
But when the Mercedes driver pulled into the pits, he was stationary for eight seconds instead of the required five. “Stopwatch failure,” team boss Toto Wolff explained after the race. “The damn thing failed, it didn’t function like it should have done. Once we realised, we had to take it safe and this is why it took longer than normal.” Rosberg, who started on pole after putting in a scorching lap under pressure in Saturday’s qualifying session, finished a disappointing fourth on Sunday. But the delay made little difference to his race. The German lost the lead off the line to team mate and title rival Lewis Hamilton, who started alongside him on the front row.