MONTE CARLO, Monaco -- An existing rule within Mercedes meant Nico Rosberg was ordered to move aside for team-mate Lewis Hamilton at the Monaco Grand Prix.
Rosberg was running second when he conceded position to his main championship rival on the run up to Beau Rivage on lap 16. Rosberg had been struggling for pace in the first stint of the race and was losing an average of 1.6s per lap to race leader Daniel Ricciardo when the call came to move aside.
His lack of performance stemmed from a loss of brake and tyre temperature behind the safety car during the first eight laps of the race, and he did not recover his pace until he pitted later in the race. Mercedes radioed Rosberg telling him to up his pace, but when it was clear he was unable to do so he was ordered to let Hamilton pass.
Although Rosberg admitted it was "very painful" to let his main championship overtake without a fight, he said he did so in accordance with the rules of the team.
"First of all, at the time it was pretty simple because it's a rule that we've had for many, many years now and it was pretty damn obvious at the time that I'm not going to be able to fight for the win with that pace," he said. "It was clear that we need to give Lewis the chance to do it and they gave me a warning to try and up the pace and I wasn't able to and then the next step is to let Lewis by and I think obviously the final result made it worthwhile in that sense for the team. So it proved that was the right thing to do at the time otherwise Lewis wouldn't have won.
"So that got the team the win in Monaco and therefore fully understandable and simple at the time. Very painful of course, that's clear, but easy to decide to do that and I've been saying I'm not thinking about the championship at the moment.
"Today I am disappointed because I wanted to win Monaco, I wanted to win my home race, it's the most exciting race of the year and that's what I was out there to do and I'm very disappointed because I was absolutely miles off it and that's it. So asking how many points ahead, I don't know, because I am not looking at it."
Team boss Toto Wolff said ordering Rosberg to move aside was not a decision the team took lightly.
"First of all, for any driver it is extremely difficult to accept such a call and we understand that," he said. "That's why we looked at the situation for many laps and it lost us quite some race time.
"We looked at it a couple of laps and hoped the tyres would switch on but it was almost like a damaged car and this is why we decided to make that call. We debated it for quite some time because it is not what we have done in the past, but it was clear that there was a problem on the car."
Wolff said Rosberg did not even question the call when it came from the pit wall.
"Not one single question. First we told him to pick up the pace if he would be capable of doing so and if not to let him by. A lap later we gave him the call of letting him by and he did that immediately."