Mercedes Power Unit Hardware & Software

[De Jokke]

If it's a sensor then he should be out again in a short amount of time

[Morteza]

Hamilton's car just seemed to shut off completely as he exited Turn 5 in front of me - complete loss of power. Some people in the crowd applauded as he walked away from the car - perhaps just grateful he gave them a cheerful wave.

[De Jokke]

They can't go racing like this. Maybe they should put in a last year's engine until this one is fixed. We need points, not leading by 15sec and then having dnf's.

I thought Cowell was referring to a couple of small issues, but not these kind of stoppages: 5units in like 5 days??

[cooken]

Interesting that despite all that the factory team has accumulated the most laps so far. Wonder if they aren't just starting to push PU and cooling into limits (eg running hot on purpose) now to see what breaks first, what the failure modes will look like and build some experience with applying fixes. One might be led to believe that they are....testing things.

[De Jokke]

I really hope you are right, but the Williams' issues would not agree with your theory...

[De Jokke]

16:39 "There's a puff of smoke coming off the back of the Williams through the chicane. It's there every lap when the car decelerates."

Not another one incoming, hopefully only excess oil...

On a positive note: latifi and stroll do have +100laps driven today

[LM10]

16:39 "There's a puff of smoke coming off the back of the Williams through the chicane. It's there every lap when the car decelerates."

Not another one incoming, hopefully only excess oil...

This has been the case on Mercedes engined cars in all testing days until now. Not an issue, but would still be interesting to know what it is.

[De Jokke]

16:39 "There's a puff of smoke coming off the back of the Williams through the chicane. It's there every lap when the car decelerates."

Not another one incoming, hopefully only excess oil...

This has been the case on Mercedes engined cars in all testing days until now. Not an issue, but would still be interesting to know what it is.

yup but with the issues of the last few days, you're starting to see ghosts...

[De Jokke]

If it's a sensor then he should be out again in a short amount of time

Almost an hour, seems to be worse than a sensor

[Big Tea]

Or maybe as they have what they need from testing they are 'smoke testing' how close to the edge that can push?
No penalty for new engines in testing (other than time) and they would start the race season with a new unit of the latest speck anyway.

[De Jokke]

Tomorrow they would do performance runs, according to Allison, so this means higher engine modes.
This could get nasty tomorrow...

[De Jokke]

Strange, yesterday Williams go bang, merc ok, today the other way round:

16:55
Nicholas Latifi has passed Vettel now as the driver with the most amount of laps. Much-needed track time for the young Canadian, who had fewer laps than any other F1 2020 driver before today. Which wasn't ideal for a rookie!

At least one merc should be able to finish in Melbourne!

[mkay]

A bit disappointed in Brixworth to be honest. This is Honda-level of unreliability considering no one is pushing yet

[De Jokke]

A bit disappointed in Brixworth to be honest. This is Honda-level of unreliability considering no one is pushing yet

Hmm, it does mean that they really have pushed for more performance this winter, compared to the poor form in 2019 (almost no power boosts).

[De Jokke]

Looks like another serious problem, day probably done for Lewis