06/10/2016
NEWS STORY
Mercedes has traced the cause of the engine failure which robbed Lewis Hamilton of victory in Malaysia last week.
The Briton, who looked destined to take his sixth win of the season and thereby close the gap to teammate and title rival Nico Rosberg, pulled off track on the 40th lap with smoke and flames billowing from the back of the car.
Comments made in the wake of the failure suggested Hamilton believed there was bias in the team against him, further stirring up an already increasing storm on social media and in the press, but he subsequently clarified his comments explaining that he meant some form of divine intervention.
Today, as the Japanese Grand Prix weekend got underway at Suzuka, Mercedes, having flown the Sepang unit back to Brixworth for investigation, revealed that its initial analysis "has shown that Lewis' engine suffered a big-end bearing failure which happened without warning after 618 km and was preceded by a loss of oil pressure in Turn 15".
With immediate effect therefore, the German manufacturer is revising its running parameters not only for the works teams but customers, Williams, Force India and Manor.
It's believed that as well as revising engine settings, the parameters will include a more conservative oil specification.
At a time all the Mercedes runners, bar Esteban Ocon, were due to take on new updated engines, the decision has been taken to delay the change until the next race in Austin as the German manufacturer continues to investigate.
Meanwhile, Hamilton will revert to his Singapore unit while Rosberg will continue with the engine used last week at Sepang.
Check out our Thursday gallery from Suzuka, here.