Nico Rosberg mourned the death of his engine which failed with just two laps remaining in the Italian Grand Prix while pursuing Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel for second.
Mercedes spent all of its remaining engine tokens heading into Monza, but for Rosberg it mattered little as the German had to fall back on the old spec engine following issues with the new power unit prior to qualifying on Saturday.
The engine Rosberg was forced to run with had been used in six full race weekends.
“To have it explode two laps to the end was unbelievable, it’s even more disappointing for sure,” said Rosberg. “And I was going to have a good go at Vettel because finally I had the breaks cooling-off to be able to attack and like to ramp up the ERS, the electric power a little bit. So I was gonna really go for it [and] then just in that moment it blows up.
“The whole weekend just went wrong completely, very unlucky I think. Just so many repercussions of this engine issue…it wasn’t even an engine issue, it was actually a chassis issue, that meant we had to change the engine, and then it was a difficult race as a result.”
The 30-year-old spared no thoughts on his title hopes after the race, acknowledging the uphill climb he faces for the remainder of the season.
“Well it’s a fact that it’s taken a massive step in the wrong direction just when I’ve needed to catch up in points,” said Rosberg. “It’s been the biggest loss that I’ve had in one day in the whole season, so that’s very bad.
“But I keep going, giving up doesn’t exist for me, just keep fighting and now I’ll just try and win the next couple of races.”
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