Hamilton engine penalty: Wolff explains the ‘technical reason’

Because of an engine change at the Brazilian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton will get a grid penalty, and Mercedes team chief Toto Wolff says there were some key reasons for the decision.

Toto Wolff has revealed why Mercedes chose to penalize Lewis Hamilton with an engine penalty during the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Hamilton’s car had been modified with a new Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) before of Friday’s first practice session, which means he would drop five places on the grid as a result. The penalty will be applied to Hamilton’s Sprint Qualifying result, which will decide the grid for Sunday’s main race.

As the title race between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen enters the final four races of the season, Mercedes team manager Toto Wolff reveals that the team’s choice to do this now rather than at one of the next few Grands Prix was motivated by reliability concerns.

“There is a technical reason because simply we are not yet 100 percent comfortable from the reliability and the degradation,” Wolff told media.

“What we know for sure is that we’re losing power the more we run [the engines], and that’s why we wouldn’t want to continue to run this current power unit and end up in Saudi or Abu Dhabi with not much more left, if we’re still in the championship.”

Chance to overtake

According to Wolff, the team also believed that the opportunity to overtake would be better in Brazil, therefore a grid penalty would have less of an impact.

“Our simulations say that overtaking is probably the best here than in the other races,” he explained.

“But obviously simulations are one thing and the realities are different. The cars are so evenly matched this season that, normally where you are [on the grid], you won’t progress a lot.

“But then it’s Lewis Hamilton in the car, so if someone can do it, [it’s] Lewis.”

Not a “clear-cut” decision

Despite believing that Sao Paulo was a better place for a penalty than other tracks, Wolff says that it was still a difficult decision to make.

“An engine change is never clear-cut, because obviously you give up a position that you earn in qualifying,” said Wolff.

“It’s really painful to see that we are on pole by a solid margin, and probably have a good chance to win the race on Sunday, but going back five places definitely reduces the chances to win to a fraction of what they would have been normally.

“But we have had reliability problems and degradation problems, and that has led us to a situation that we just need to be cautious [of] how long we can run these engines.

“And that’s why it was clear, we had to do it here, because the next few races are going to be important.”

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