Towards the end of the 2021 season, Mercedes has a powerful engine, one that appears to be faster than the Honda power unit at competitor Red Bull. Nevertheless, the engines of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas have a number of reliability problems. Toto Wolff explains that not all problems can be solved yet.
“At the moment, all we can do is limit the problems and try to find a reasonable solution,” the Mercedes team boss explained in conversation with Car, motor and sport. Solving the problems by bringing new, more reliable parts with you, according to Wolff, it is too late for that. “That no longer makes sense, building new parts.”
The problems at Hamilton and Bottas cannot be disguised, especially the Finnish driver suffers from reliability problems with his engine. Bottas has already had to commission a fifth engine, Hamilton is working on his fourth. One of Hamilton’s older engines may no longer be able to be used in a race. The third engine, introduced in Belgium, has only completed three races. “But we have yet to decide whether that engine can handle another race,” said Wolff.
Still, the Mercedes power unit is lightning fast on the long straights. The Mercedes team boss says he is taking advantage of the learning curve throughout the season. “We understand the car better in combination with our rules, while we still had problems at the beginning of the year. Our car now has more speed than in the spring and summer because we set the car differently.”
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