Canadian GP: Nico Rosberg relieved to salvage second for Mercedes

Mercedes was unbeaten in the 2014 F1 season prior to Montreal, where Daniel Ricciardo's Red Bull pounced on Rosberg with just two laps to go.

Both Rosberg and team-mate Lewis Hamilton had what Mercedes described as a "high-voltage control electronics failure", leaving them without their MGU-K facility.

They also began to suffer from brake problems, with Hamilton's severe enough to force him out.

"When you lose ERS it doesn't harvest anymore, then any braking is done by rear braking, so that is why the rear brakes overheated," said Rosberg.

"That made it massively difficult: I needed to cool the brakes and lost speed on the straights.

"I was able to hold off the pack behind me until two laps until the end so it's still a really good result.

"I was trying to hold on, doing qualifying laps all the time, but it didn't work out against Daniel."

Rosberg said the issues in Canada showed that Mercedes still had work to do to improve its reliability, even though it was its first mechanical drama in a race since Hamilton's Australian GP retirement.

"We need to keep pushing," he said.

"We need to make sure that we are bulletproof."

The Canadian race result rebuilds Rosberg's championship lead to 22 points over Hamilton.