Breaking news
Formula 1 Abu Dhabi GP
Bottas faced with threat of grid drop for Abu Dhabi
The Mercedes Formula 1 team doesn’t yet know if Valtteri Bottas will need to take a grid penalty in Abu Dhabi after his retirement from the Brazilian GP with an engine issue.
Adam Cooper
Edited: Nov 19, 2019, 3:24 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
The engine that he used in Interlagos will be returned to the HPP facility in Brixworth on Tuesday evening, and will stripped and analysed. A final decision on the plan for Abu Dhabi will be made early next week.
Bottas had to park up on lap 53 in Brazil after smoke was seen coming from the rear of the car over the previous lap.
“I think there was a bit of smoke,” he said. “I didn’t actually see the smoke myself, but they reported to me, but I couldn't feel any loss of power, just the engine switched off after Turn 3.”
Asked if he has any mileage left on his earlier engines should the Brazil unit be unusable, Bottas said: “To be confirmed. I doubt there's any miles left, but we’ll see.”
After the race Mercedes technical director James Allison said it was too early to know if the engine was salvageable.
“We don't know any more about it,” he said when asked by Motorsport.com. “We know that we had elevated oil consumption during the race that ran away very sharply - very sharply - about half a lap before we saw it expire. The engine stopped itself rather than expired in a heap.”
Both of Bottas' previous engines for the season have completed their planned schedule in terms of races – in effect they do seven race weekends each. Bottas has completed a lot of miles this year, and his only retirement before Brazil was due to his crash in Germany.
A Mercedes spokesman said of the used engines: “It doesn’t necessarily mean that they couldn’t do another [event], but that wouldn’t necessarily be preferred.”
Read Also:
- Masi had no choice over safety car for "stuck" Mercedes
- Mercedes: Offering late stop to Hamilton was "plain dumb"
Bottas had endured a difficult race in Brazil. Having planned on a one-stop strategy – and taken hard tyres in order to facilitate that – he was called in for a second time later in the race. He admitted that he was “a bit confused” at the change of strategy,
“At the start I didn't gain any positions,” he explained. “And it seemed like overtaking would be difficult, and to go long in the first stint I tried to save the tyres a bit. But still I think I was lacking a bit of pace in the first stint due to quite a bit of understeer, especially middle sector, and so I was dropping back behind further away than than ideal.
“So then I wanted to go on the hard tyre because I thought that's going to be maybe the only chance to go with a one-stop. I felt still that it could be possible, but we stopped to cover [Alex] Albon, I think.
“And from my side I was a bit confused when I questioned the stop. It's still a question mark if I could have made it to the end or not, in theory not. But I thought that would be the only chance really, so a bit tricky.”
Bottas spent part of the race behind Charles Leclerc, but was unable to find a way past the Ferrari. “They're quick on the straight so makes it tricky, but I think he was starting to struggle more and more. I still felt good with the tyre so it actually when I just had the engine failure, I was charging my battery again. It was pretty flat and there was not much left to do anything.
“So plan was to charge it for a bit, get it full and then attack again. It's not easy to get them for sure with their straightline speed, and he was defending well, he was always covering the inside.”
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Ferrari: Timing of Vettel/Leclerc Brazil clash "lucky"
Next article Why Sainz escaped penalty for "muscle memory" DRS use
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Adam Cooper
RB: Tsunoda “mentally on a different level” in 2024
Formula 1
Formula 1
Japanese GP
RB: Tsunoda “mentally on a different level” in 2024
Andretti planning F2 and F3 entries to promote US talent to F1 team
Formula 1
Formula 1
Andretti planning F2 and F3 entries to promote US talent to F1 team
Andretti F1 team formally opens new Silverstone facility
Formula 1
Formula 1
Andretti F1 team formally opens new Silverstone facility
More from
Valtteri Bottas
Cadillac’s F1 brakes are still a problem: ‘I had to lift and coast on lap two’
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
Cadillac’s F1 brakes are still a problem: ‘I had to lift and coast on lap two’
Valtteri Bottas completes three-day jungle ride to Singapore GP: "Your mind starts to play games at night"
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
Valtteri Bottas completes three-day jungle ride to Singapore GP: "Your mind starts to play games at night"
You Ask The Questions: Valtteri Bottas
Formula 1
Canadian GP
You Ask The Questions: Valtteri Bottas
More from
Mercedes
Why Mercedes switched George Russell to its old F1 car spec in Singapore
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
Why Mercedes switched George Russell to its old F1 car spec in Singapore
Christian Horner admits that F1 rivalry with Toto Wolff became "theatre"
Formula 1
Formula 1
Christian Horner admits that F1 rivalry with Toto Wolff became "theatre"
Latest news
Jesse Love barely holds off Sam Mayer for NASCAR O'Reilly win at Phoenix
NASCAR O'Reilly
NOAP NASCAR O'Reilly
Phoenix II
3 h
Jesse Love barely holds off Sam Mayer for NASCAR O'Reilly win at Phoenix
Lando Norris faces anxious wait as F2 prepares to decide future of his racing team
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Singapore GP
6 h
Lando Norris faces anxious wait as F2 prepares to decide future of his racing team
NASCAR Cup Phoenix starting lineup: Blaney earns pole as Larson struggles
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
7 h
NASCAR Cup Phoenix starting lineup: Blaney earns pole as Larson struggles
Ryan Blaney kind of faces a must-win scenario this weekend at Phoenix
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
8 h
Ryan Blaney kind of faces a must-win scenario this weekend at Phoenix
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe