Mercedes explain the reasoning behind Bottas problems in Brazil

It was largely a weekend to forget for Valtteri Bottas in Brazil as he failed to finish after starting fifth on the grid. track engineering director Andrew Shovlin has highlighted just where the Finn went wrong.

It was a rare blip for Bottas, who has finished 8th or higher in all but two races this season, to underline just how strong a job he has done this season.

"Before we could see smoke on television we were monitoring the oil level and we could see that we were losing oil at a relatively slow speed and a speed we thought we would reach the end of the race," Shovlin told soymotor.com.

“When you started to see the smoke, the speed at which the oil was being consumed rose and the car turned off. This is a power unit protection mechanism.

"Now, that power unit has returned to Brixworth and they will be checking it today and at night and will make a statement about whether there has been any damage and if we need to penalize with Valtteri in Abu Dhabi."