27/05/2018
NEWS STORY
Speaking in the moments after Daniel Ricciardo's emotional win in Monaco, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner revealed that the failure of the Australian's MGU-K around 17 laps into the race left the driver 25% down on power.
"He lost about 25% of the power of the engine," he told Sky Sports. "And then because of the way these engines work, his rear brake temperatures were going through the roof. We saw it with Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg a few years back in Montreal."
As well as meaning the loss of the power boost the system delivers, the failure of the MGU-K impacts braking also, for as the device is charged by the kinetic energy provided by the rear brakes, when it fails there is no resistance which means the brakes are forced to work that much harder in a bid to prevent overheating. At the same time, rather than energy recovery, the driver has to rely more on engine power which in turn impacts fuel consumption.
"He is having to cool the brakes, he is having to cool the car, he is having to lift off to do that," he continued, "and he is having Sebastian Vettel breathing down his neck. He cannot make a mistake. He cannot lock a wheel up.
"He is dealing with all the switch changes and all the stuff that he has got to manage. And he totally nailed it. He was the coolest guy out there today.
"It was unbelievable," said the Briton. "He was not going to give this race up, this weekend. He has been quickest in every session. We lost the MGU-K 17-18 laps into the race, and that is 2.5 seconds per lap he is giving up.
"Then your brake temperatures go out of control, the fuel, tyre temperatures go up... and he just managed it like he was on a Sunday afternoon drive.
"They are telling me on the intercom that we are going to have to retire the car after one or two laps, and I said look, we are in the lead of the Monaco GP, we are keeping going.
"Moving the switches around, driving, saving fuel, saving brakes, saving tyres, asking what was going on with Max's tyres and everything else, he drove an unbelievable race this weekend."
Check out our Sunday gallery from Monaco, here.