Mercedes explain Lewis Hamilton’s engine concerns and won’t rule out taking another F1 grid penalty

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has explained the reliability concerns that led to Lewis Hamilton taking a new engine at the Turkish GP, and is not ruling out another switch and grid penalty before the end of the season.

Hamilton took a new Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) at last weekend’s race, dropping him 10 places on the grid after topping qualifying. He eventually came back to finish fifth, although lost his championship lead to Max Verstappen, who he now trails by six points with just six races to go.

The Englishman had previously spoken of his hope of getting to the end of the season without a new engine but Wolff insisted the decision in Istanbul was not a tactical one.

“We had to do it,” the team boss told Sky Sports F1. “We saw some data on the Internal Combustion unit that didn’t look very promising and a DNF