Mercedes admits: 'Then you might as well replace the whole engine'

Lewis Hamilton received a grid penalty in the Turkish Grand Prix, which meant he had to start from eleventh place. The choice of Mercedes to replace only the combustion engine (ICE) was a matter of debate, because why not replace the whole engine? Technical director James Allison explains in a YouTube video of the team.

"With our car, we knew it was going to be a challenge to get to the end of the year with the internal combustion engines Lewis had. So we had to choose a judicious moment to give us a good shot of making it to the end of the season," Allison explained.

Mercedes wanted to minimise penalty

He continues: "Of course we could have replaced the entire power unit, but then you have to replace all seven elements. For the first element you get ten places and for the second as well, so then you're already at the back of the grid."

"So when you take two elements you are at the back of the grid and you might as well replace everything, but in our case the area we wanted to get the most out of was the internal combustion engine. By replacing just that we were able to limit the grid penalty to ten places," concludes Allison.