Mercedes finds cause of Hamilton failureposted in F106 | 10 | 2016
THREE DAYS BEFORE the Japanese Grand Prix, Mercedes has revealed it has discovered the cause of the engine failure which robbed Lewis Hamilton' of victory in the Malaysian Grand Prix.
The three-time world champion was leading at Sepang when his engine erupted in flames 15 laps from the end: it was his third power unit failure of the year.
After meticulous investigation following the failure, Mercedes has determined a big-end bearing failure in the crankshaft as the root cause of the engine problem. It says it happened without warning after 618km, and was preceded by a loss of oil pressure in Turn 15.
For this weekend, Hamilton will revert to the engine he used in Singapore. Rosberg will continue with the power unit he ran in Malaysia.
Mercedes has also introduced a new precaution, by introducing revised running parameters for the works team, as well as customers Williams, Force India and Manor.
Those parameters will include, but are not limited to, a different and more conservative oil specification.
All Mercedes customer drivers, excluding Manor's Esteban Ocon, were set to take new engines this weekend as part of their planned cycle. However, those changes have been delayed until Mercedes has conducted further analysis from stripping Hamilton's failed unit.
Those five customer team drivers will continue to use their units from the Malaysian Grand Prix.
Related: Riccciardo leads home Red Bull 1-2 in Malaysia
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Jim McGill