Mercedes reveals the reasons for Lewis Hamilton’s engine cuts in Mexico
The Mexican Grand Prix put the single-seaters through their paces, with a number of technical problems. During qualifying, Lewis Hamilton complained of repeated engine failures that hampered his fast laps. James Vowles, Mercedes' Director of Strategy, had this to say on the subject.
The qualifications for the Mexican Grand Prix offered us a great spectacle with a battle for pole position between George Russell, Lewis Hamilton, and Max Verstappen. Although it was the Dutch double world champion who came out on top, both Mercedes showed great performance and achieved their best qualifications this season. However, Lewis Hamilton complained about engine cuts during this qualifying session.
The British driver indicates that the problem began to appear during Q2 and then worsened during Q3, and was manifested by a drop in power coming out of corners.
The problem repeated itself during the Grand Prix the next day, the English driver’s engine was cutting out periodically. His teammate also fell victim to this incident with a misalignment in the power deployment of his engine block.
This technical problem is actually due to the high altitude of the Mexican circuit, the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, which is located over 2200 meters above sea level. The engine of the Silver Arrows is not calibrated to deliver optimal performance at high altitude, explains James Vowles, the director of strategy at Mercedes.
You generally map the engine for the conditions in which it is mostly used, that is to say, at sea level, where most races take place, when you suddenly go to these altitude levels, you are in a very different condition.
Instead of having a very well-tuned engine, you are back in a situation where you have to do a lot of work with the power unit in a very short time to try to map these irregularities.
Disappointment in the race
The German team was aware of this issue and the feedback from the drivers after their fast laps in qualifying was not concerning. However, the team expected to have a higher pace during the race.
« It is generally emphasized in qualifications because you quickly press on the accelerator pedal, which means that the turbo and fuel systems have to adapt to this change very rapidly, and usually, it is better for racing.
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« We were hoping that the race wouldn’t be so bad and that comes from a factor when the drivers ask for throttle and accelerate, it simply didn’t provide the power they requested fast enough, therefore not enough fuel or air. »
Despite these mechanical incidents, Mercedes is scoring valuable points in the world constructor championship with Lewis Hamilton’s 2nd place and George Russell’s 4th place. The German team is now only 40 points behind Ferrari, with only two races left to compete this season.
