Breaking news
Formula 1
Hamilton engine got "close" to limits in Australian GP chase
Mercedes is confident that Lewis Hamilton's engine did not suffer any damage in his pursuit of Sebastian Vettel at the Australian Grand Prix, despite getting close to its temperature limits.
Jonathan Noble
Edited: Mar 29, 2018, 7:17 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Hamilton was forced to chase his Ferrari rival in the closing stages of the Melbourne race after Vettel's well-timed VSC pitstop meant he was able to retain the lead.
Pushing hard and running behind Vettel meant that Hamilton's engine temperatures increased, and in the end he called off the battle in a bid to ensure that there was no risk to future reliability now drivers are only allowed three engines for the whole season.
Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin has revealed that Hamilton's engine temperatures did get close to the limits the team had set, but says there were no indications it had exceeded them.
Speaking in Mercedes' Pure Pitwall strategy debrief on YouTube, Shovlin said: "You may have heard us on the radio telling Lewis it was getting hot, which is just the fact that when the cars get so close you don't get clean air going into the radiators keeping it cool.
"It did get quite close to its limit temperature, and we are monitoring all these limits very closely. You can run up to them, you just have to be careful that you don't run over them.
"In Lewis' case we were okay. We were just up around the limit and you heard Lewis on the radio hear that he couldn't get by and he was going to save the engine. Well at that point he just backed off and he was cooling the car.
"You can turn down the power of the engine so it is not having to work so hard, but we are pretty confident that the engine will be in good shape."
Mercedes will inspect the engine ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix, but said there were no plans to bring in a second power unit to help boost Hamilton's pool of components.
"We are limited in what tests we can do because we cannot actually run the engine, we are not allowed to, apart from when we get to Bahrain," he said.
"At the moment that is Lewis' only engine that we have in the engine pool. He will be running that engine in Bahrain and in China, and we will be monitoring them as we always do to ensure that everything is continually okay."
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 Alfa Romeo's Sauber influence set to grow with tech role
Next article McLaren testing troubles led to upgrade delays
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Jonathan Noble
Brundle awarded OBE in King’s New Year’s honours
Formula 1
Formula 1
Brundle awarded OBE in King’s New Year’s honours
The new rules dilemma that will define the 2025 F1 season
Formula 1
Formula 1
The new rules dilemma that will define the 2025 F1 season
Verstappen issues Red Bull title warning in push for RB21 progress
Formula 1
Formula 1
Australian GP
Verstappen issues Red Bull title warning in push for RB21 progress
More from
Lewis Hamilton
"We failed so we had to react" - Fred Vasseur on Ferrari driver talks and Mexico F1 fallout
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
12 h
"We failed so we had to react" - Fred Vasseur on Ferrari driver talks and Mexico F1 fallout
Nico Rosberg compares Ferrari’s clashes to his own Mercedes F1 rivalry: “The instructions are not clear enough”
Formula 1
Formula 1
Mexican GP
17 h
Nico Rosberg compares Ferrari’s clashes to his own Mercedes F1 rivalry: “The instructions are not clear enough”
More from
Mercedes
Why Toto Wolff sees Ferrari clash as "déjà vu" – and why escalation may be necessary
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
10 h
Why Toto Wolff sees Ferrari clash as "déjà vu" – and why escalation may be necessary
"Exhausted" George Russell set for Brazilian F1 grid penalty
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
15 h
"Exhausted" George Russell set for Brazilian F1 grid penalty
Latest news
Kaden Honeycutt: "I put my nuts on the dash" to win Homestead and NASCAR Truck title
NASCAR Truck
NSTR NASCAR Truck
Homestead
3 h
Kaden Honeycutt: "I put my nuts on the dash" to win Homestead and NASCAR Truck title
Chase Briscoe leads NASCAR Cup Homestead practice; Larson brushes wall and Reddick wrecks
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
7 h
Chase Briscoe leads NASCAR Cup Homestead practice; Larson brushes wall and Reddick wrecks
Hamlin and Bell left with what could have been in NASCAR Chase
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
7 h
Hamlin and Bell left with what could have been in NASCAR Chase
Why Max Verstappen ended F1 practice early in Brazil – Red Bull explains
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
8 h
Why Max Verstappen ended F1 practice early in Brazil – Red Bull explains
Feature
Discover prime content
How F1’s rules got to be so complex
Formula 1
By Pat Symonds
How F1’s rules got to be so complex
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