Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Wolff vows 'to leave no stone unturned' to stop engine failures

Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff has vowed "to leave no stone unturned" to ensure Lewis Hamilton avoids another Formula 1 engine failure during the title run-in

Hamilton was frustrated after his engine blew 15 laps from home while on course for victory in the Malaysian Grand Prix, which would have allowed him to reclaim the championship lead from team-mate Nico Rosberg.

Hamilton heads to next weekend's Japanese GP trailing Rosberg by 23 points, with only two engines to get him through the remaining five races.

The Malaysia failure was his third major power unit problem of the season after those suffered during qualifying in China and Russia.

Asked by Autosport whether his team would now forensically examine the two remaining engines, Wolff said: "We have two engines left - one that has run three races and one that is brand new.

"We will leave no stone unturned to check them for the next races

"Having said that, it is already the way we do things, that we are forensic in our approach and how we check all the bits.

"But whatever needs to be done to look at that specific failure will be done."

Wolff says the engine problems Hamilton has encountered have not been related to each other.

"It's interesting because most of the failures were not linked to each other - it was different failures," said Wolff.

"It was failures that were either in the supply chain, or material problems or assembly problems, or just a mistake in the design or fatigue below the mileage it should have been [capable of].

"So there is no pattern in those failures that we can identify."

HAMILTON WILLING TO MISS PRACTICE SESSIONS

Hamilton is concerned about whether the two remaining engines will last the season, suggesting he would be willing to sit out some practice sessions if that was needed to preserve engine mileage.

"I don't know if my two engines are going to make it, but I can only hope," said Hamilton.

"Right now, my concern is I've got these two engines and I want to make sure they can treat them with whatever they can to make sure they last.

"If that means not doing a session, I will not do a session. I'll do whatever it takes to see through a race."

But Wolff says that is unlikely to happen.

"Missing a practice session harms his weekend overall, so we would want to head to a race and have a more reliable situation," said Wolff.

Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Wolff calls Rosberg's penalty for Raikkonen clash complete nonsense
Next article Sergio Perez confirms 2017 Force India F1 deal

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe