Ricciardo’s brakes almost caught fire due to MGU-K failure – Horner

Daniel Ricciardo’s MGU-K failure almost caused a brake fire during the Monaco Grand Prix, team principal Christian Horner revealed.

The team considered retiring his car when its MGU-K failed with 50 laps to go.

“On lap 28 he reported a sudden loss of power. The engine guys could see from the data that the MGU-K had stopped completely,” said Horner.

“At that point there was talk of retiring the car because the potential damage with the K can go into the combustion engine, and then it is a whole load of other problems.

“My position was we are leading the Monaco GP and we will run it until his engine stops.”

Ricciardo had to make rapid changes to his brake balance because his rear brakes were overheating, Horner explained.

“When you lose the MGU-K that changes all the energy movement through the braking system of the car. So his rear brakes immediately were not far off going on fire.

“He then had to wind the brake bias all the way to the front. And at the same time, we are telling him that he needs to start lifting in the braking areas to generate as much cooling as he could on the brakes.

“With all the balance and setting changes that were going on, he also had Sebastian Vettel one second behind him while leading the Monaco race. So he got that under control pretty quickly.”

Losing the MGU-K cost Ricciardo “a couple of seconds a lap”, said Horner. “Had it been any other circuit they would have sailed straight past us.”

“We saw it [when] Daniel won his first grand prix in Montreal when the same issue happened to Nico Rosberg. But here in Monaco with the ability to position the car sensibly, it is enormously difficult to overtake here even with a pace advantage.

“So it was important for him to keep his cool, keep track position, don’t kill the tires, don’t kill the brakes, don’t kill the engine and bring it home. He has been so focused since he arrived here this weekend there was no way he was going to let this victory slip through his fingers.”

Additional reporting by @WillWood.

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