Lewis Hamilton suffers blow at Japanese Grand Prix as F1 penalty looms after Mercedes discovery

Lewis Hamilton retired from the Australian Grand Prix after just 17 laps due to an engine problem and now Mercedes have finally decided whether that power unit can be revived.

Mercedes have announced that the engine of Lewis Hamilton, which malfunctioned during the Australian Grand Prix, has been discarded. Hamilton’s Melbourne race was cut short after only 17 laps, as he had to stop on the side of the track due to a power unit problem.

The engine was taken back to Mercedes’ Brixworth facility for investigation to determine the cause of the issue.

It was anticipated that they would identify the problem and repair it in order to use it again this year, but the issue causing delays was not immediately clear.

And Mercedes have now discovered that they cannot salvage the engine. It means Hamilton is already on his second power unit of the season – far from ideal considering just three races have been held so far.

Formula 1 drivers can only utilize four internal combustion engines throughout the 24-race season, which implies they must last an average of six full race weekends.

Hamilton’s loss of one engine after just three races has significantly raised the chances of requiring a fifth engine.

If he is required to use a fifth ICE this year, it would result in an automatic grid penalty, which appears to be the case at this point.

Fortunately, the diagnostic work done by Mercedes has also brought some good news for the team.

The engineers are of the opinion that the engine failure was due to a quality control problem rather than a design flaw. Therefore, they do not expect it to happen again in the future.

However, despite being a one-time occurrence, it had negative consequences for both the team and Hamilton.

This resulted in them leaving Melbourne without any points, as George Russell, their team-mate, also crashed out of the race and failed to score.

Mercedes has earned only 26 points in the first three races, making it their weakest start to an F1 season since 2012.

This start has been especially challenging for Hamilton, as his total points of eight are the lowest he has had at this point in a season since he entered the sport in 2007.

However, he maintains a positive outlook for the remaining part of the season and informed journalists that they have not had the ideal start to the season, but there is still a lot of time left.

He mentioned that they will persist in their efforts and remain hopeful that they will be able to compete at the top in the future.