Nico Rosberg says he was surprised to see Lewis Hamilton go for such a small gap before the pair made contact and crashed out of the Spanish Grand Prix.
Mercedes blew what looked to be a likely one-two in Spain at Turn 4 on the opening lap, colliding when Hamilton tried to reclaim the lead he had lost to a good Rosberg move around the outside of the first corner. However at this point Rosberg entered an incorrect engine mode, giving him a slower exit -- in the region of 17km/h less -- than Hamilton out of Turn 3.
On seeing this Hamilton moved to the right but Rosberg went defensive and covered the position, forcing his teammate wide and onto the grass, where he lost control of the car and spun into the other Silver Arrows. Rosberg has explained the crash, which the stewards deemed to be a racing incident, from his perspective.
"A great start," Rosberg said. "I was really excited about the first corner move to get the lead and for sure it was my race to win. Then coming out of Turn 3 I noticed I was down on engine power, which in hindsight was because I was in the incorrect mode, because I saw Lewis closing in.
"As soon as I could, I closed the door. I went to the inside with a clear strong move to make sure that he understands that there is not going to be space there. I was very surprised that he went for it anyway. That is it. Then we were in the sand trap."
Asked to clarify what he meant by being surprised to see Hamilton there, he said: "In hindsight not surprised to see him there, surprised that he went for that inside gap."
Rosberg says his defensive move across the track was to show Hamilton he was not willing to give up the lead without a fight.
"It was to move over as early as possible in a very clear strong manoeuvre and to make it clear to Lewis that I am going to be covering the inside which is a normal thing for a racing driver to do. That is what you do. You block the inside door to make sure that he doesn't get by."
Rosberg has denied the suggestion that he was distracted from what was going on ahead of him because he needed to change engine modes coming out of Turn 3.
"That is not correct. I was well aware of where he was at all time. I was fully aware of the battle. The way for me to get more engine power is from my overtake button which you will see on the onboard I was pushing that, and I don't need to look where it is as I use it very often and I know where it is. Top left hand corner."
The German driver says he and the team are unsure how he entered the incorrect mode at that time.
"We still need to look into it to understand it. But it is definitely a disadvantageous mode to be in because there is no change on the run down to Turn 1 and it loses power after that."