Lewis Hamilton has taken his second engine for the season in
Japan
Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes W15 will be fitted with new power
unit components for the Japanese Grand Prix weekend after it was confirmed his
Australian GP issue was terminal.
The Briton moves onto his second of four penalty-free
engines for the championship.
Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes W15 failure in Melbourne was
terminal
Hamilton retired from the Australian Grand Prix while
fighting for the minor points as his engine gave up 17 laps into the grand
prix.
At the time Mercedes technical director James Allison called
it a “catastrophic loss”, explaining there was a “rapid loss of oil pressure
followed by a shutdown of the engine.”
The PU was returned to Mercedes’ engine facility in
Brixworth for analysis with Motorsport.com reporting the Briton’s retirement
was the result of “a bottom end failure, which has been traced back to a
quality process issue rather than any specific design problem.”
Such was the failure, the engine has been lost from
Hamilton’s PU pool with the seven-time World Champion moving onto a second for
the season in Japan
