Wolff: Rosberg almost retired

Nico Rosberg was fortunate he did not retire from the Australian Grand Prix before claiming victory, said Mercedes boss Toto Wolff.

The German was dominant in the second-half of the race as he led comfortably from the front, with Lewis Hamilton a distant second.

But Rosberg was fighting brake issues that were so bad he almost didn’t make it to the end.

"We had a problem on Nico's car with brake caliper temperatures which kept creeping up almost to a stage where we thought about retiring the car,” said Wolff.

"That was two thirds into the race. We caught some debris in the caliper, but then it stabilised and started to creep down again very slowly and recover.

"At a certain stage it was very difficult for the team to handle.

"And then 15 laps from the end our calculations showed the tyres wouldn't last, that five laps from the end the left-rear could fall off the cliff.

"The temperatures kept dropping and dropping every single lap, and our tyre guy said 'Five laps from the end, that's it!'

"We lost a lot of grip on the rear left, but it's just one of four tyres and he made it survive to the end."

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