Breaking news
Formula 1 Japanese GP
Mercedes duo left without engine boost mode in qualifying
Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg were left without their full 'qualifying boost' engine mode at the Japanese Grand Prix as Mercedes continues to seek answers to its Malaysian Grand Prix failure.
Jonathan Noble
Edited: Oct 8, 2016, 12:47 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
In the wake of Hamilton's blow-up at Sepang last weekend, Mercedes elected to change running parameters in Japan, a move which has included running a different specification of oil and less aggressive engine modes.
The lack of the qualifying boost mode – which is believed to be worth around three tenths of a second in qualifying – could explain why Ferrari was able to get within three tenths of a second of Mercedes at Suzuka on Saturday afternoon.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said that the impact of the actions Mercedes had taken was in clear evidence in qualifying, but he was hopeful it would not slow his drivers down too much in the race.
"We have put certain safety measures in place to maybe not run it as spicy as we could," explained Wolff. "But we don't know, as a fact, that this can protect the engine more.
"It also has an effect on laptime during the race, although the race laptime deficit is not as large as the qualifying deficit."
Wolff hoped that the action taken would give Mercedes enough room to be able to come up with a definitive answer as to why Hamilton's failure occurred.
"What we had in Malaysia was a worst case for us as we don't want to interfere in the drivers' championship with a car stopping," he said.
"This is a mechanical sport but it is still something we try to avoid as much as we can. Within a week you are not able to properly assess all the root causes of the problem.
"We have tried to contain it with several measures, which I can't really comment on. But it doesn't give us an ultimate guarantee and relief that we are safe for tomorrow. So it's not an easy situation."
No answers
Wolff said investigations at Mercedes' Brixworth headquarters were ongoing, as power unit chief Andy Cowell worked flat out to deliver an answer about what happened last weekend.
"We get a substantial presentation every day on where they are with the analysis of the power unit, and it's in pieces and all the bits are analysed," added Wolff. "We've been looking at a different engine from the same build to try to find a common denominator.
"There are certain avenues we are pursuing at the moment that look interesting in terms of finding the root cause, but obviously it's only three days since they had the engine.
"So he [Cowell] is flat out. I get emails at the weirdest hours of the day UK time from him. The group around him are working flat out."
Customer impact
Williams, which missed out on getting through to Q3 at the Japanese GP, admitted that it had made changes for this weekend – although engine modes were not hurt too much.
Technical chief Pat Symonds said: "We were planning to use new engines here and we are not using them. We are keeping the old engines.
"We have had to change oils – we haven't had too much of a worry on modes. But until it is fully explained – it is partially explained – what happened with Hamilton's engine, we need to keep a little bit of a lid on things."
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 Haas critical of Mercedes after Hamilton hampers Gutierrez in Q3
Next article Ricciardo baffled by top speed deficit to Verstappen
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
Lewis Hamilton: Kimi Antonelli “deserves to be the champion”
Formula 1
Formula 1
United States GP
2 h
Lewis Hamilton: Kimi Antonelli “deserves to be the champion”
Why it's now Oliver Bearman versus Rafael Camara for the next Ferrari vacancy
Formula 1
Formula 1
United States GP
9 h
Why it's now Oliver Bearman versus Rafael Camara for the next Ferrari vacancy
More from
Mercedes
George Russell: F1 2026 season a test of "character and resilience"
Formula 1
Formula 1
United States GP
6 h
George Russell: F1 2026 season a test of "character and resilience"
Kimi Antonelli ready to "finish the job" as first F1 title chance beckons at US GP
Formula 1
Formula 1
United States GP
20 h
Kimi Antonelli ready to "finish the job" as first F1 title chance beckons at US GP
Latest news
F1 United States GP live commentary and updates - FP1
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
43 min
F1 United States GP live commentary and updates - FP1
Max Papis announces departure as IndyCar chief steward
IndyCar
Indy IndyCar 56 min
Max Papis announces departure as IndyCar chief steward
Lamborghini Super Trofeo | Asia Race 2: Victory for Li/Sherlock, but Tregurtha crowned champion over Sceats/Wisniewski
Lamborghini Super Trofeo
LBST Lamborghini Super Trofeo
World Finals - Monza 2026
1 h
Lamborghini Super Trofeo | Asia Race 2: Victory for Li/Sherlock, but Tregurtha crowned champion over Sceats/Wisniewski
Rackley W.A.R. to immediately shut down NASCAR Truck Series team
NASCAR Truck
NSTR NASCAR Truck
Talladega
1 h
Rackley W.A.R. to immediately shut down NASCAR Truck Series team
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