Mercedes announced they have no plans to issue Lewis Hamilton with a fresh power unit for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix season finale.
Lewis Hamilton will not be having a new Internal Combustion Engine this weekend which will mark the end of the 2021 Formula 1 season. Hamilton has already used five engines in the 2021 campaign which exceeds the permitted engine allocation which is three. The 36-year-old had to incur grid penalties in the Turkish and Sao Paulo GPs for the extra two engines used.
Word had been going round that Mercedes may be in consideration of having a new ICE on Hamilton’s car giving him an edge in performance over Max Verstappen. The two title rivals are currently equal on points as they head to Abu Dhabi Grand Prix season finale.
Mercedes engineer Andrew Shovlin shut down the engine change allegations in an interview with Sky Sports.
“Not on the plan… If we do that, something has gone wrong. It wouldn’t feel like a good idea. That would only be if we suffer a big problem, and even that wouldn’t be Plan A if we did lose an engine,” Shovlin said.
There has been a lot of talk over the ICE that Hamilton used in Brazil, as Red Bull boss Christian Horner described it as ‘unraceable’ after Mercedes dominance in Brazil and Jeddah rounds.
“It’s not as big a deal as it’s perhaps being made out to be, I think Red Bull were inferring it was a huge difference and I think Toto did the same at one point. It’s a useful step in the right direction,” Shovlin added.
“Whether we had it in, or not, at the last race, it’s not going to cover the kind of gap that we were seeing to Max over a single lap. But it’s a step in the right direction.”
