Although Nico Rosberg benefited from the misfortune that struck his Mercedes teammate, and title rival Lewis Hamilton, the German admits he feels for the reigning F1 world champion thanks to having suffered a similar fate in the past.
Speaking ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix weekend, Rosberg said, "[Malaysia] was not great for us, unfortunately. My race was almost over before it even began and I feel for Lewis, as I've been there myself and it sucks big time to have all those points taken away from you just like that."
"For the guys too, seeing all their hard work destroyed in a couple of moments must be pretty brutal, especially right at the end of such a physically demanding weekend. But you cannot underestimate how strong this team is. We'll hit back even harder."
Hamilton's DNF at Sepang and Rosberg's third place - after an impressive comeback drive from last thanks to being spun around by an overly ambitious Ferrari - means the German now leads the championship standing by 23 points with five rounds remaining.
"Of course, the result in Malaysia went in my favour in the title battle. That's a fact and I cannot pretend otherwise. But I haven't been thinking about the points situation all season and I'm not going to start now. I'm here to win races and that's the aim every time.
"Suzuka is the next opportunity and I'd love to stand on top of the podium there. It's one of the truly great, classic race tracks, where all the legends have won, so it would be an honour to add my name to that list.
"I need to improve on my last performances there, where it hasn't ever really come together. But I think I've shown this season that I've learned a lot from the past two years, so I'm confident I can get on top of this challenge. Hopefully it will be a great weekend and a good close battle for those awesome Japanese fans," added Rosberg.
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