A sudden oil pressure loss causing Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes engine to stop in Australia

A frustrating race weekend for the German team in Melbourne. Mercedes lost a chance to score important points in Australia. After Lewis Hamilton’s exit in Q2 during Qualifying, the race was even worse, as both cars were forced to retire.

The seven-time world champion’s single-seater broke down in the 17th lap of the race, due to an engine failure. During the debrief of the Australian Grand Prix, James Allison, technical director of Mercedes, stated that he did not know where the issue came from. Investigations are ongoing. The power units will return to the safe hands of the Brixworth guys who will be able to understand what caused them to fail.

All we know are the symptoms, namely a rapid loss of oil pressure following an engine shut-off to protect it, because when you have a catastrophic loss like that, the best thing you can do is shut it down immediately. This saves the engine for the future,” he explains on the Mercedes account during the race debrief.

Mercedes finally did not see either of its two drivers cross the finish line as George Russell suffered an accident in the penultimate lap of the race, finding himself in the middle of the Albert Park track. Fernando Alonso is actually held responsible for this incident.

A race that is expensive

Whether in terms of points in the standings or repairs to be made on the cars, **Mercedes has lost a lot this weekend**.

The technical director thinks that if Hamilton had still been in the race at this point, a modest 8th place finish would have been possible.

« We know that during his first stint it was going well with the soft tyres, not for a long stint, but the car was holding on well enough compared to the estimates we had made earlier.

The upcoming race weekend, in Suzuka for the Japanese Grand Prix, will be decisive for the team and for Lewis Hamilton who has only scored eight points in the first three rounds.