Canadian GP: Rosberg says radio problem cost him

The German had been chasing a fourth consecutive pole position, but found his efforts were compromised due to a lack of communication with the pits.

"Actually fourth place was good considering the circumstances," he said. "I was expecting a lot worse because I didn't manage to do a lap in the end.

"It was quite straightforward actually, because there were two shots in Q3, equally with the first second and the second set of tyres.

"My excuse today is that I didn't have the radio working except for a very short space on the straight. But the team didn't know that.

"So it was more or less like having no radio - and that made it really difficult with these conditions because I didn't have KERS working, I didn't have the right settings, and I didn't have the brake temperatures up and all these things. That was my problem today."

Although such a radio blackout would not be a problem in normal dry qualifying, in the changeable weather that greeted drivers in Montreal it was much more of a handicap.

"It was because of the conditions," he said. "If it had been a normal dry qualifying then it is not that important because you can tell me what I need to do.

"But with these conditions, you need so much information. Even at the end I was told two laps in the garage and then three laps - so by the time I got to the end of my second lap, I thought it was finished.

"Then for the third lap I was stuck on the gearbox of the Lotus, so I completely wasted that run and didn't get a lap time in."