Rosberg: “This kind of thing should be avoidable”
Forced to retire very early during the Singapore F1 Grand Prix, Nico Rosberg lost the lead in the championship and had to helplessly witness Lewis Hamilton's triumph. He reflected on his withdrawal.
The Singapore Grand Prix will remain a disastrous episode in Nico Rosberg’s 2014 season, as he suffered an electrical problem right from the practice laps. Even though he was able to start from the pit lane, his race was compromised.
Questioned by the official Formula 1 site, he recounts: « Suddenly, all the buttons and the radio stopped working: I had no more hybrid power, I didn’t have DRS – only the gear shift paddles worked a little, but what was strange is that I could only shift two gears at a time, so I didn’t have 4th and 6th gears. Then, it came back a bit for a few laps before malfunctioning again. I was desperate. And, in the end, there was nothing me or the team could do. For safety reasons, they called me back. »
« I have no explanation. We will analyze the situation, but my feeling is that this kind of thing should be avoidable: it’s probably just a simple electronic module, » he explained, before reflecting on what he felt at the moment of the issue: « It was an ugly feeling to sit there and be completely helpless, knowing that your entire race is going out the window. It’s really hard! »
The German driver added: « This was the most difficult day of the season and right now, I can only say that I am in pain and desperately trying to find a logical explanation for all this. I was angry in the cockpit, so I’m already on the road to recovery. I left a lot of the anger in the helmet! »
« I know I tried everything – two steering wheels, for example – but it didn’t help because it wasn’t the steering wheel itself but obviously something in the steering column connecting the wheel and the car. As I said, eventually we will probably learn it was a small part that caused this whole situation, but there was nothing more we could do during that timeframe. When I finally could shift gears, it was anything but fun to leave behind the Caterham. »
When asked if the restriction of radio communications and the induced changes at the level of the steering wheel interface might have had an impact on this problem, Rosberg responds: « I did indeed make some changes on my screen, but I doubt that it is the reason, but who knows… »
Mercedes dominates the 2014 season but has experienced several technical difficulties: both for Lewis Hamilton in Australia (cylinder problem during the race), in Canada (brake problem during the race), in Germany (brake problem during qualifying), and in Hungary (engine problem during qualifying), but also for Nico Rosberg in Canada, in Great Britain (gearbox problem during the race), and thus in Singapore: “Reliability is our weakness,” admits the driver with the number 6. “We have to go back to basics. Reliability will be a major factor in the title race, but thinking it will cost me the title is very pessimistic, and I’m an optimist! […] The team is very focused on reliability, and we are all trying to progress together.”
