Technical problems continue to haunt Mercedes cars. In the first two European races, in Imola and Monaco, the team from Brackley won points with only Russell. It was no different in Barcelona: the duel between the Briton and Verstappen, which led to a penalty for the Dutchman and fourth place for the Silver Arrows driver, was overshadowed by another setback – this time an engine failure that forced Antonelli to stop at the side of the track and try to reset his W16, but to no avail.
Considering the events in Spain, the introduction of the controversial wing flexibility directive, which Mercedes has already partially implemented in Imola, and then only modified the floor in Catalonia, does not seem to have changed the order. In the week that separates the European triple weekend from the next race in Canada, Mercedes technical director James Allison explained the tire strategy, Kimi’s problem and how he will deal with it during the season.
ENGINE FAILURE
After retiring at the Emilio Romagna Grand Prix in front of his home crowd and finishing out of the points in Monaco, Antonelli suffered another retirement in Barcelona. All due to engine problems, which is surprising considering that both McLarens, which use Mercedes power units, finished the race, something Mercedes has no clear answer to.
“We still don’t know exactly what failed on the power unit. At Brixworth, they will take it apart, determine what broke, make recommendations that must be applied to the whole group of racing engines – not only with us, but also with the client teams. And we hope that this will not happen again for the rest of the season,” said Mercedes technical director James Allison.
This is a clear sign of alarm within the team, which must also think about the allocation of resources for the rest of the season.
“It puts additional pressure on the team. We could install a new power unit as early as the next race weekend without penalty, because we are still within the allowed number of units for the season. But, obviously, we are only a third of the way through the season and it could put a lot of pressure on the team if we have to deploy the remaining units until the end. That is why we will be watching carefully how to best manage the remaining resources. But yes, it is certainly not fun when an engine fails before it has used up its full life.”
