Mercedes boss Toto Wolff announced on the weekend of the US Grand Prix that the German manufacturer is facing “some reliability problems that keep recurring” with its engines.
Valtteri Bottas had to get his third new engine in four races in Austin, while team-mate Lewis Hamilton got his fourth engine of the year in the previous race in Turkey.
Mercedes customers Aston Martin and Williams also replaced Sebastian Vettel and George Russell’s engine before the US GP.
The upcoming races in Mexico and Brazil are at 2250m and 800m above sea level, and the reduced oxygen requires components like the turbo and MGU-H to work harder.
But Williams’ Head of Vehicle Performance Dave Robson says the extra height shouldn’t be an additional issue for the team to worry about.
“No, that’s not a problem right now,” said Robson. “I don’t think altitude is going to be a big problem in terms of reliability. It will be fine, so no, at this point I don’t think there are any concerns.
“I think we always had to use this fourth engine with George after his difficulties in Austria,” he added.
Nicholas Latifi, Williams FW43B, Esteban Ocon, Alpine A521
Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
Williams is eighth in the Constructors’ Championship with five races to go after benefiting from his strong results at the Hungarian and Belgian GPs, where he scored 20 of his 23 points.
With 16 points behind Alfa Romeo, Williams’ position seems secure, especially since Robson believes the team has the potential to come close to rivals like Alpine or Aston Martin.
“I think we’re going up and down a bit with Alfa around eighth place so I think that’s part of that and I think we can usually get pretty close to Alpine and Aston Martin so I think that the eighth or ninth place is likely where the car is, “he said.
“But then on a good day we can pick up the slower of the two Alpines and the slower of the two Aston Martins. I think there we are.
“And usually we were able to pick up Tsunoda, but he’s been doing really well lately, especially in the last few qualifying sessions, so it was a bit more difficult.
“But I think that was it, we’re sure ninth and sometimes eighth and then almost seventh.
“Sometimes we do a good job and take a few more cars off than we should.”
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