03/04/2024
NEWS STORY
Its issues with warmer conditions aside, James Allison is confident that the reliability of the W15 is not an issue.
It wasn't only Red Bull that suffered a rare DNF in Melbourne, for both Mercedes failed to make it to the chequered flag, there first double DNF since 2018 at the same venue.
While George Russell crashed on the penultimate lap in his pursuit of Fernando Alonso, teammate Lewis Hamilton suffered an engine issue just 15 laps into the race.
Nonetheless, technical boss, James Allison is confident that reliability is not another issue for Mercedes to worry about.
"DNFs are thankfully a rare thing for us," says the Briton in the post-Melbourne debrief. "We have drivers who are particularly good at keeping it on the island and our reliability overall is a strong point. It is unusual to have a double DNF like that. It is certainly not something we expect to punctuate our season.
"What we are more focused on is the pace," he continues, "because if you get the pace sorted out the season will be okay whatever happens.
"The baseline reliability of the car, our procedural approach to it and the skill of our drivers will tend to keep you clear of DNFs," he insists. "All our focus is on the pace knowing that those other foundations are in decent shape."
Referring to the issue with Hamilton's power unit, he admits that it remains a bit of a mystery.
"All we know is the symptoms at the time, which was a rapid loss of oil pressure followed by a shutdown of the engine to protect it. When you know you've got catastrophic loss like that, the best thing you can do for the future is kill it there and then, and then you have not got like a load of molten metal.
"You have normally got a fairly clear evidence chain of what caused it and then that lets you work better for the future. So, we do not know yet, but Brixworth and HPP will do in short order.
"No doubt as soon as we know then they will jump to it with their characteristic energy to make sure that any risk that happens on any other engine is mitigated as best we can."