“There is a potential DNF risk” – Toto Wolff on Valtteri Bottas’ sixth combustion engine of the season before the USGP

Toto Wolff warns of reliability problems with the Mercedes engines, as Valtteri Bottas suffers a starting penalty of five places before the USGP race.

Toto Wolff admitted that the engine “has no durability” after Valtteri Bottas had to change another engine before the USGP. The Finnish Powertrains will serve a fifth starting place penalty for the sixth internal combustion engine (ICE) of the season. He previously received back-of-the-grid sentences in Italy and Russia.

UPDATE: @ValtteriBottas has won its sixth internal combustion engine of the season and will receive a starting place penalty of five places for the #USGP. pic.twitter.com/GRQEibEFEp

– Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@ MercedesAMGF1) October 22, 2021

The Mercedes F1 team boss said: “Unfortunately, we have had a few reliability problems since the middle of the year that keep recurring. I think we understand a lot better now. That means there is no shelf life to operate them and that means a potential DNF risk. “

“Botta’s penalties are less than the previous ones, but it’s still not nice because it’s a close fight. If you come back five places, you will have another life to come back even if you are in pole position. “

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Much bull *** t

When asked if Mercedes is experimenting with other drivers by changing some engine components to see which is best for Lewis Hamilton, Wolff denied the case.

Wolff added, “You have to have the same specification for all of them so you can’t make changes between two engines. He addressed the speculation about the problem with air valves, he added.

“You are fed a lot of bull *** t. We don’t need to talk about air valves or anything like that, because you and I won’t understand what that is. “

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