For Mercedes F1, the remaining five races will be a battle not only for Red Bull Honda but also for the reliability of the engine.
Mercedes F1 does not hide the reliability problem of the engine. Valtteri Bottas is a typical example, with a grid penalty for the fourth in the 14th Italian Grand Prix, the fifth in the 15th Russian Grand Prix, and the sixth in the 17th US Grand Prix. There is.
“Now we have a better understanding of what’s going on, but we’re not able to run the engine the way we want,” admitted Toto Wolff, Mercedes F1 team representative. “
“And you can’t risk DNF.”
A big concern is that, like Valtteri Bottas, Lewis Hamilton, whose point shortage with Max Verstappen has risen to 12 points, may be facing more penalties.
“Of course I’m worried,” said Toto Wolff.
“Lewis also has the risk of having to replace it anew. We are considering the balance between continuing to use the engine and taking the risk of failure, or introducing new parts and taking a penalty.”
Category: F1 / Mercedes
