0
Mercedes chiefs Niki Lauda and Toto Wolff say priority number 1 is for the reigning champions to solve car reliability problems. While Nico Rosberg utterly dominated at Sochi, his teammate Lewis Hamilton has suffered repeated technical problems that have caused some conspiracy theories to surface.
Boss Wolff, however, said the German marque demonstrated its loyalty to the reigning world champion by rushing a part to Sochi by private plane that prevented a further penalty. "The box came off the plane and within 90 seconds was out of the airport. I have no idea how Bernie (Ecclestone) managed to do that," he smiled to Bild newspaper.
According to Auto Motor und Sport, the next private plane was flown out of Sochi by team chairman Niki Lauda, who will stop off at Brackley to ensure the team is straight to work on ending the series of engine problems. That is because Hamilton suffered yet another technical glitch in the race in the form of a water leak, while telemetry from Rosberg's winning car showed indications of a fault.
"For a moment we thought Nico's race was over," Wolff said, referring to Sunday's race winner. Lauda added: "I'm worried about the reliability of our engines but I trust our people to solve it. What man can build, he can also understand and fix."
Wolff insists Mercedes will not panic, explaining that the problems are just the result of being pushed harder by rivals so far in 2016. "The longer the rules are stable, the more difficult it is to find a few more horse power," he said.
"Internally, we call our engine guy Andy Cowell 'Mr Performance', because he wants to get everything out of it that is humanly possible. But we might have to take a small step back and ensure that we are giving the drivers a car with which they can get to the finish line," Wolff is quoted by RTL broadcaster. (GMM)
Grand Prix of BelgiumLocal time
Grand Prix of BelgiumLocal time
Bahrain International Circuit - Winter testing
M. Verstappen
C. Sainz jr
C. Leclerc
Bahrain
Bahrain
Bahrain International Circuit
Bahrain
Bahrain International Circuit
Saudi Arabia
Jeddah Street Circuit
Australia
Albert Park
Japan
Circuit Suzuka
United States of America
Miami International Autodrome
Monaco
Monte Carlo
Canada
Gilles Villeneuve
Spain
Circuit de Catalunya
Austria
Red Bull Ring
United Kingdom
Silverstone
Hungary
Hungaroring
Belgium
Spa-Francorchamps
Netherlands
Circuit Zandvoort
Italy
Monza
Azerbaijan
Baku City Circuit
Singapore
Marina Bay Street Circuit
United States of America
Circuit of the Americas
Mexico
Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez
Brazil
Interlagos
United States of America
Las Vegas Street Circuit
United Arab Emirates
Yas Marina Circuit
463,496 comments on Mercedes
66 members have this team as their favourite
Tweets about Lewis Hamilton
601,377 comments on Mercedes 56 members have this team as their favourite Tweets about Mercedes
Replies (0)
Login to reply