Mercedes F1 engines “good as gold” despite recent reliability issues, says Toto Wolff

Toto Wolff has defended Mercedes’ Formula 1 engines as “good as gold” after a series of reliability issues in recent Formula 1 races, stressing that the “failures have been minimal”.

Wolff made the remark after last weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix, which saw Williams driver Alex Albon retire after just seven laps after a “PU” engine on his Mercedes unit.

It was the latest in a series of reliability issues for Mercedes which have affected both its factory team and engine customers Williams and Aston Martin.

Rookie Kimi Antonelli notably retired from his home race at Imola due to what was described as a throttle issue, while a loss of oil pressure in the engine led to another DNF in the Spanish GP.

Teammate George Russell, who claimed victory in Canada, also encountered problems earlier in the season, with an electrical issue in Monaco qualifying cutting short his session in Q2 and compromising his weekend.

Customer team Aston Martin hasn’t been spared either, with Fernando Alonso suffering a power loss in Monaco before ultimately retiring from the race.

However, Mercedes team principal Wolff isn’t concerned by these issues, pointing to the German brand's historically strong record since the introduction of the V6 hybrid engines in 2014.

Mercedes stole a march on its F1 rivals when the current 1.6-litre six-cylinder engines were introduced just over a decade ago, winning seven consecutive drivers’ titles and eight consecutive constructors’ championships in a row from 2014-21.

"Our engines have been as good as gold since the introduction of the hybrid era - and so strong," Wolff was quoted by RacingNews365.

"As it is the final year [of the rules set], all sights are on next year.

"And Hywel [Thomas, HPP managing director] and his group are fully on top of the reliability issues that we have."

He added: "And statistically, if you look at the many years, the failures we had were very minimal.

"So we need to learn now what happened. I don't know what happened to Alex Albon actually, but I'm sure we'll understand it."