Mercedes has “a few balls in the air” about the reliability of the F1 engine

As Mercedes hopes to get through the rest of the season without needing a new engine for championship leaders Lewis Hamilton, concerns are growing that this may have to be done and a take-off penalty received.

The precarious situation the team is in was made clear on the Russian Grand Prix weekend when a fresh engine installed by Valtteri Bottas in Italy got into trouble and had to be removed.

This forced another engine change, which the Finn lost in the order on the same weekend that Williams driver Nicholas Latifi also suffered a drop in start.

While Mercedes is waiting for the analysis of the Monza engine to find out whether it can be used again, team boss Toto Wolff admitted that the engine prospects are currently somewhat restless.

Not only does Mercedes have to deal with plans for this season, but it also needs to be committed to its 2022 project when engine specs are completely frozen.

“That’s why we have a few balls in the air, because you have to have the right balance to make sure you really sort out all of the Gremlins that you have in your unit, not just for this year but also for next year’s annual engine,” said he.

“We are definitely in a phase of assessing how we can continue the season in terms of the aggregates.”

During the Russian GP weekend, Hamilton said he was careful not to overload his current engines in an attempt to help the situation.

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12, Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB16B

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

“Of course I lost an engine. Valtteri had several,” he said.

“And there were others that Mercedes saw up and down in the paddock.

Also read:

“So at the moment I try to treat my engines that we install with absolute care when I drive, in terms of how much I accelerate, how much just revving things up the nuts of really trying, to minimize the number of laps I drive. “

Wolff said the Bottas Monza unit will be inspected before the next race in Turkey.

“We want to understand the engine’s performance and that left us with some question marks,” he said.

“Right now we just take it on a race weekend and re-evaluate the engine’s performance, and then that’s it.”

When asked whether engine reliability was Mercedes’ biggest concern in the title hunt, Wolff said it was clear that the team could not afford to retire in a race.

“It’s always about reliability versus performance, there’s always a fine line to walk right,” he said.

“DNFing is of course a no-go for the championship and nobody, neither we nor our competitors, can afford a race weekend with zero points.”