Christian Horner: Daniel Ricciardo’s car on the brink of retirement

Red Bull Racing team boss Christian Horner has hailed Daniel Ricciardo's "unbelievable" drive at the Monaco Grand Prix after the Australian racer took a lights to flag victory in the Principality despite suffering from engine issues throughout the race, which nearly saw him retire.

After taking a dominant pole position on Saturday which saw Ricciardo break the circuit's lap record, the Australian racer started from the front row of the grid for Sunday's race, leading when the lights went out on lap 1.

Managing his pace and tyres at the front of the pack, Ricciardo built up a small gap over Sebastian Vettel who followed behind in second place before an apparent MGU-K problem on lap 27 forced the leader to drop back.

Despite losing some pace and being limited to six gears, Ricciardo was able to come out on top to take his second victory of 2018, beating Ferrari's Vettel to the chequered flag by 7.336s after a late Virtual Safety Car.

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"Unbelievable," said a relieved Christian Horner post-race to Sky Sports. "He was not going to give this race up this weekend. He was quickest in every session.

"He lost the MGU-K 17 or 18 laps into the race. That’s what it was. That’s two and a half seconds a lap he is giving up. Then your brake temperatures go out of control, then the fuel, tyres going off and he just managed it like he was on a Sunday afternoon drive.

"They were telling me on the intercom that we were going to have to retire the car in one or two laps and I said look, we’re in the lead of the Monaco Grand Prix, we’re keeping going.

"He was moving the switches around, driving, saving fuel, saving brakes, saving tyres, asking what’s going on with Max’s tyres and whatever else. He drove an unbelievable race this weekend."

"Daniel is a big part of our team and he’s really the complete article now," he continued. "You can hear this composure in the car when something goes wrong.

"There was no panic. There was no raise of voice. It was ‘I’ve lost power, what do I do, give me some instructions, what can I play with here?’ He worked it out.

"I can’t praise him enough for this victory, especially after 2016 when it was a disastrous race for him. For him to win this race I’m really proud of him."

Talking about the extent of the issue that Ricciardo faced in Monaco after losing the MGU-K, Horner revealed that the driver faced a loss of approximately one-quarter of the engine's power: 

“He’s lost about 25 percent of the power of the engine and because of the way these engines work, that’s making his rear brake temperatures going through the roof.

"We saw that a few years ago with Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton in Montreal. He’s having to cool the brakes, he’s having to cool the car, he’s having to lift off to do that.

"He’s got Sebastian Vettel breathing down his neck, he cannot make a mistake. He cannot lock a wheel up. He’s dealing with all the switch changes, all he’s got to manage and he totally nailed it.

"He was the coolest guy out there today," he concluded.