Mercedes still in the dark over Lewis Hamilton’s engine after “catastrophic loss”

Mercedes still don’t know what caused Lewis Hamilton’s engine failure at the Australian Grand Prix.

Hamilton’s Mercedes ground to a halt on Lap 17 of Sunday’s Australian GP, capping off a miserable weekend for the seven-time world champion.

Things got worse for Mercedes on the final lap when George Russell crashed out while battling Fernando Alonso for sixth.

It means Mercedes have endured their worst start to a campaign since 2012, while Hamilton's points tally of eight is the lowest he's scored after three rounds in his F1 career.

Speaking on Mercedes post-race debrief, technical director James Allison revealed that the team doesn’t know the actual cause of Hamilton’s failure.

“We do not,” he said. “The Power Units will return to the safe hands of the guys at Brixworth, who will be able to figure out what let go.

“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 because 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 just 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, Brixworth and HPP will do in short order. And no doubt as soon as we know then they will jump in with their characteristic energy to make sure that any risk that happens on any other engine is mitigated as best we can.”

It’s very rare for Hamilton - and Mercedes - to be hit with engine trouble.

Since the middle of 2018, Hamilton has been forced to retire just twice (Abu Dhabi 2022; Australia 2024) with technical issues.

“DNFs are thankfully a rare thing for us,” Allison added. “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 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.

“All our focus is on the pace knowing that those other foundations are in decent shape.”