After Max Verstappen limited damage after being forced to equip a new power unit with a second position in Sochi, now it is time to see if Lewis Hamilton has to follow the same path as the Dutchman.
The introduction of power units current developments, evolutions of those that revolutionized Formula 1 from 2014 with the shift from the V8 to the V6 turbo, have led to a multitude of changes when it comes to tackling a racing weekend for the teams and, above all, a full season.
While a team can now safely replace a defective part of its drivetrain, the piece limit that can be used by the ten teams that make up the grid has led some to accumulate sanctions ridiculous, as in the case of McLaren-Honda: in just a few Grands Prix, they exceeded 100 penalty positions.
Restrictions and more restrictions have taken efficiency to the extreme of the engines that we see in the circuits today, but even today the penalties for substitution of vital parts for the correct operation of a power unit cause headaches for the engineers and the mechanics of the teams.
Talent vs. mechanics
So much so that, in the Russian GP, Max Verstappen was forced to mount a 4th unit of combustion engine, turbo, MGU-H and MGU-K, as well as a 3rd unit of batteries and control unit, with the corresponding sanction that led him to start from the bottom of the grill. The engine freeze in 2022 also affects the development of the current ones, something that Toto Wolff knows first-hand.
“That is why we are juggling so many things; you need to strike the right balance between making sure you fix all the gremlins that you are in your power unit for this year and next year ”, explained the Austrian leader after the new complete UP change of Valtteri Bottas after having premiered a completely new one at the Italian GP.
«We are definitely in a evaluation phase on how we will continue the season in terms of power units. “We want to understand the performance of the engine, and that has raised some questions for us. For now we go race by race, re-evaluating the performance of the power unit, and that’s it. It’s always about reliability versus performance, there’s a fine line to get right. A retirement is prohibited if we want to fight for the championship, and nobody, neither us nor our rivals, can allow a ‘zero’ ”, closed Wolff.
For his part, Lewis Hamilton has revealed that he is already taking care personally, within his possibilities, that the power units that are ‘healthy’ to finish the year do not suffer any mechanical setback. «Of course I have lost an engine. Valtteri has lost several, and there have been others that Mercedes has seen all over the paddock», Said the current champion talking about client teams of the silver star.
“I am trying to protect my engines with absolute care”
“So now I’m trying to protect my engines, the ones we put in, with a absolute care when piloting: regarding the gases, the revolutions, the nuts, trying minimize laps as much as possible I give … », concluded a Hamilton who hopes not to be abandoned in the gutter of the circuits that they still have to visit.