Sao Paulo Grand Prix – Engine change and 5 penalty places for Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)

It wasn’t just a rumor. The Mercedes team decided to change the engine in Lewis Hamilton’s W12 on the first day of the Sao Paulo Grand Prix on Friday at the Interlagos circuit. As free practice 1 of the nineteenth round of the Mondial started, the International Automobile Federation formalized the installation of a fifth V6, the main part of a powertrain, in machine n ° 44 of the British, which will earn him a drop of five places on the starting grid on Sunday.

The technical regulations impose this season the use of a maximum of three V6s, and penalties for exceeding this quota. At the Turkish Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton had already lost ten places on the grid for the transplant of a fourth V6 in his car. It was the first time the quota was exceeded and the Brixworth engine manufacturers knew any subsequent changes would result in a five-seat penalty.

A suspected water leak

If he were to dominate the qualifying session this Friday, Lewis Hamilton would start at the head of the peloton in the sprint race on Saturday but would start five positions beyond his place acquired in the event scheduled over 18 laps.

Mercedes did not communicate the reasons for this change but several media had indicated that the team had discovered a water leak on Lewis Hamilton’s engine at the finish of the last Grand Prix in Mexico City.

For now, Mercedes has made a minimum change, and it is not excluded that in the event of a disappointing result during the sprint race that the team will make a complete change of powertrain.