© Daimler AG
Mercedes has decided to introduce new power units for Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas at the Belgian Grand Prix. Toto Wolff doesn’t rule out future penalties.
Both Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas have taken on their third internal combustion engines of the 2021 season. This means they are on the limit of exceeding the number of MGU-H, MGH-K and turbochargers that are allowed in a year.
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff therefore doesn’t rule out the possibility that one or both drivers will receive engine penalties in the future.
“Every engine is degrading and obviously you have a fresh one,” the Austrian told Sky Sports.
“It has that notch more performance and if it gets really tight then you have to have this discussion. But at the moment, we’re still counting on finishing it with three.
If you like SilverArrows.Net, consider supporting us by buying us a coffee!
“In any case, it’s very tight with three engines this season and it’s something that everybody needs to monitor, whether you want to take a penalty to just have extra power.”
Regarding Hamilton finishing Belgian Grand Prix Free Practice 1 in P18, Wolff believes the Briton was on his way to clock in the fastest time of the session, but his lap was compromised by Nicholas Latifi.
“Lewis’ lap was compromised because we ran into traffic at the end, it was a bit of a hairy moment. But I think we’re in ok shape so far.
“We need to learn a little bit from the downforce levels. We ran the two different ones on both cars. I’m not quite sure that this [Bottas’s rear wing] is the one we can run on the weekend.
“But it’s definitely good to have done a back-to-back test and Lewis didn’t put the lap in, he was a little bit faster,” concluded Wolff.
