Mercedes AMG Petronas Driver Nico Rosberg finished the Canadian Grand Prix in second place on Sunday while teammate Lewis Hamilton was forced to retire after he experience braking problems. Sunday’s second place finish was Nico’s seventh successive podium finish of the season, keeping him in first place in the points for the season followed by Hamilton and Canadian Grand Prix champion, Daniel Ricciardo or Red Bull.
The specific problem with Hamilton’s car was high-voltage control electronics failure that caused a permanent loss of MGU-K drive on lap 36, eventually causing his brakes to overheat and forcing him to retire by lap 46, the same problem also happened to Nico’s car on lap 37 though Nico was able to recover.
Nico Rosberg
That was a big battle all the way through today! I had a tough start but I was able to defend in the first few corners and fight against Lewis. The race went smoothly for a while then both cars suddenly lost the MGU-K system and a lot of power which was really tough. Then I lost some time in the second pit stop which let Lewis jump me and I was struggling to cool the rear brakes down so it was all happening. Towards the end of the race, I tried to defend against Sergio which was fine but Daniel was too fast on the straights with much more power than I had available and he was able to get past. With so much going on, I had to ask my engineer where I finished at the end as I thought I was probably about fifth or sixth. I was so happy to hear that I was in P2! They are important points for me in the championship, so it was a tough but ultimately good day. Congratulations to Daniel for his first Formula One win.
Lewis Hamilton
I did the best that I could out there today and felt like I was having a strong race but unfortunately it just wasn’t our day. Montreal has been a good track for me so to come here and not finish is disappointing but there are plenty more races ahead of us this season so let’s hope for better fortune. There was nothing I could do about our issues really. We were managing the loss of power but as soon as I finally made the jump on Nico in the second pit stop, my brakes failed going into turn 10. It’s great for the team that Nico was able to hold on and get second place today but it’s tough for me. That’s two DNFs now this season and now I have to try and recover the points gap again. But these are learning experiences: we’ll learn as a team and get stronger. Congratulations to Daniel today. It’s awesome for him to get his first win and I know this will be a really special day for him.
Toto Wolff
First of all, I must say I feel very sorry for Lewis. His retirement was not his fault in any way and it is something the team has to take on the chin. Both drivers were doing a great job up to the point when the MGU-K failed. That also led to the brake failure that forced Lewis to retire after the second pit-stop. Nico did a sensational job to get the car home and it was a fantastic piece of damage limitation given how much power he was giving away to the other cars. Now we will stick together as a team, analyse and understand what happened, and come out of this situation even stronger. Congratulations to Daniel Ricciardo on his first Grand Prix win. He’s not just a quick guy but also a fresh new face as a Formula One winner, and that’s something very positive for our sport.
Paddy Lowe
We knew this would be a very tough race and so it proved. We were able to run at a good level of performance at the beginning of the race, notwithstanding a minor incident for Nico when he ran straight on at Turn 14 in the second stint. We then experienced a near-simultaneous failure of the MGU-K on both cars just after half distance, which was apparently caused by an issue in the high-voltage Control Electronics which manage the MGU-K. This meant both cars lost hybrid power from this point onwards and, without the additional braking force of the MGU-K, this also put a much higher load on the rear brakes. Lewis then suffered a complete rear brake failure after his second pit stop, which was a consequence of the MGU-K fault. Nico was not affected in the same way and managed incredibly to maintain position from lap 37 to lap 67, making up time in the first and second sectors in order to defend in sector three, when he was considerably down on power. This was achievable against the Force India but not the Red Bull after Ricciardo finally passed Perez. It is disappointing to see our run of race wins and 1-2 finishes come to an end. Nevertheless, we will regroup for the next race and will be determined to arrive in Austria in an even stronger position.
