Previously undiscovered defect behind Bottas’ retirement
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff has highlighted that the turbo failure which brought Valtteri Bottas’ Spanish Grand Prix to an abrupt end was a previously undiscovered power unit defect.
The Finn was running third when his Mercedes power unit failed on lap 39. A water leak on Saturday morning initially facilitated an engine change, with the team opting to revert to the engine used during the first four races of the season. It was this unit that failed.
Following an extensive investigation of the mechanical gremlin at Mercedes’ Brixworth headquarters, Toto Wolff has identified the problem as one that the team has never encountered before.
“It was painful to lose 15 valuable points with Valtteri retiring from P3,” Wolff stated. “We’ve identified the root cause of the problem, which was the turbo. We haven’t seen that defect before, which shows you that you need to be double diligent.
“This is a technical sport and if you stretch your limits, you’ll encounter technical problems.”
Unusual, though it may be, to see a Mercedes grind to a halt in an era of the sport in which they have been dominant, Bottas’ car failure demonstrates the level at which Mercedes are having to compete in order to beat a rejuvenated Ferrari.
While Lewis Hamilton triumphed in Barcelona, his visible exhaustion at the chequered flag was similarly a marker of the challenge. Ferrari is forcing Mercedes into unknown territory in 2017, hence the emergence of new issues.
“On one side, [the battle with Ferrari] is very exciting and challenging,” Wolff added. “But on the other side, it is going to stretch us to our limits.”