Mercedes explains why Hamilton drove with an old engine in Qatar

That Lewis Hamilton did not drive with the 'rocket engine' from Brazil during the Qatar Grand Prix was already known, but Andrew Shovlin has revealed in a video of Mercedes why this was the case.

Rocket engine of Hamilton

In Brazil, Mercedes opted to install a new engine in Hamilton's car. The seven-times world champion drove to victory, despite a disqualification and a grid penalty. His power on the straight was particularly notable, but in Qatar, that was no longer the case. That wasn't surprising as the Briton was riding an older engine.

''It was not the engine, the fresh one, that we took in Brazil. This was an older engine and because the engine is a bit older, it also has a bit less power,'' says Shovlin in the Race Debrief of Mercedes. Although this had been announced earlier by the team, the Mercedes engineer now also lets us know why the team chose this.

Mercedes' tactical plan

''Of the remaining circuits, Qatar has got the shortest amount of straight line, the shortest amount of full-throttle running and it's got an awful lot of cornering. So the power advantage you get from that engine in Qatar is much smaller than if you run it at the two remaining circuits.''

''All we are doing is trying to really balance the mileage across the pool, but make sure that when we use the less powerful engine, there is less of a penalty for it and it also means that when we get to the final two tracks, we are going to have the most power that we possibly can,'' Shovlin concludes.