Formula 1 Brazilian GP
Mercedes F1 engine reliability concerns a legacy of 2019 Ferrari fight
Mercedes says its current Formula 1 engine reliability concerns are a legacy of it having stretched itself too much in a bid to match Ferrari’s power back in 2019.
Jonathan Noble
Edited: Nov 27, 2021, 5:35 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
The German manufacturer has faced ongoing concerns about its power unit this season, with both Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas having been hit by a run of grid penalties since the summer break.
Hamilton, who is under investigation for a DRS infringement in qualifying, has taken a new internal combustion engine for this weekend's Brazilian Grand Prix and will serve a five-place grid penalty on Sunday.
The Mercedes situation is a surprise considering how little trouble it has faced with reliability throughout the turbo hybrid era, with Honda's F1 technical chief Toyoharu Tanabe remarking that he “cannot believe” why its rival has struggled so much.
However, team boss Toto Wolff thinks the current difficulties are a consequence of Mercedes having over-reached in chasing performance during the 2019 campaign – when Ferrari had a power advantage.
That season proved controversial with Ferrari’s power unit being subject to an FIA investigation about potential behaviour that got around F1’s strict fuel flow limits.
While the FIA was unable to prove that Ferrari broke the regulations, the subsequent introduction of an extra fuel flow sensor served to pull the Italian team’s performance back.
At the time, Mercedes was upset because it felt that its staff had been pushed to their limits to match the Ferrari performance that it felt had been the result of the Italian team pushing the boundaries of the rules.
Now, Wolff suggests that measures it took back then to play catch up for 2020 are now coming back to haunt it.
“We were pushed very hard in 2019, and came with a power unit in 2020 that was right there, but maybe it stretched us too much,” explained Wolff.
“If you are in the constant pursuit of performance, sometimes reliability falls behind. And I guess this is what happened.”
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12
Photo by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images
While Mercedes has understood a lot more about its reliability problems in recent weeks, the decision to change Hamilton’s engine for Brazil came because of concerns over performance degradation.
With the team needing to wind down power at the end of each engine’s life, it felt that giving Hamilton a boost with a fresh power unit made most sense.
Wolff added: “We are not yet 100 percent comfortable from our side from reliability and from the degradation side. What we know for sure is that we are losing power the more we run that.
“That’s why we wouldn’t want to continue to run this current power unit and end up in Saudi or Abu Dhabi with not much more left, if we’re still in the championship.”
Read Also:
- The key issues behind the Hamilton/Verstappen F1 investigations
- Red Bull: Hamilton's new F1 engine worth "couple of tenths"
Despite not being fully on top of its engine reliability right now, Wolff says that Mercedes cannot ease off with its performance push ahead of a looming development freeze.
“You need to push hard,” he said.
“We are fighting an extremely potent and reliable Honda engine, and these guys have put all the resource that you can potentially deploy on this last season. Fair enough.
“And that will continue to be the power unit in the next few years, in some way in a frozen manner.
“Therefore we just need to make sure next year we start with an engine that is as good in performance as we have now, but that can actually go through the seasons without incurring engine penalties.”
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 Red Bull: Hamilton's new F1 engine worth "couple of tenths"
Next article Russell does not know where Williams' F1 pace has gone
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
Latest news
Franco Colapinto urges fans to stop the abuse: “You’re not helping me or my future”
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Singapore GP
1 h
Franco Colapinto urges fans to stop the abuse: “You’re not helping me or my future”
Gresini: New MotoGP rules won't increase gap between factory and satellite teams
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Indonesian GP
2 h
Gresini: New MotoGP rules won't increase gap between factory and satellite teams
Tristan McKee joins JR Motorsports in 2027 with future plans for full-time ride
NASCAR O'Reilly
NOAP NASCAR O'Reilly
Phoenix II
2 h
Tristan McKee joins JR Motorsports in 2027 with future plans for full-time ride
Colton Herta eyes potential Indy 500 return and IMSA enduros as 2027 plans remain in flux
FIA F2
F2 FIA F2 2 h
Colton Herta eyes potential Indy 500 return and IMSA enduros as 2027 plans remain in flux
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