Wolff fears possible retirement, Hamilton engine change 'possible'

It hung like a dark cloud over the season of Max Verstappen after his crash at Silverstone: the upcoming engine change and the corresponding grid penalty. Thanks to the same dark cloud over Sochi, where the Dutchman took his penalty, the loss of points to Lewis Hamilton remained minimal. And the Briton is reportedly facing an engine change as well. Will this happen in Turkey?

Afraid of dropping out

Team boss Toto Wolff doesn't want to give a definitive answer yet. To Sky Sports F1 He says: "It is a possibility. When and how has not been decided yet. The most important thing is that you don't get a DNF because of a reliability problem." It's clear that Mercedes will need a longer run this season than the seasons before.

The risk of a dropout is too much of a burden according to Wolff: "You can deal with fluctuations, whether you finish second or third. I think that's okay, the championship is going to be long. But if you don't finish... So we're looking at the parameters of the engines, to make sure we don't have reliability issues."

How will the championship develop?

Wolff and also Lewis Hamilton have fond memories of Turkey, however. Last year the team won the race at Instanbul Park. "Lewis has been great there," said Wolff. "But we have to take each race in its time. It's so difficult, the cars are so close together. I'm curious to see how this championship develops."