Hamilton will start from pits with a new engine

2017 Brazilian Grand Prix

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Lewis Hamilton will start the Brazilian Grand Prix from the pits so Mercedes can fit fresh parts to his car including a new power unit.

The world champion crashed during Q1 and would have had to start from the rear of the field anyway.

Brazilian Grand Prix qualifying in pictures
Mercedes has confirmed the change of parts which will require them to break the parc ferme rules and require him to start from the pits. Hamilton will take his fifth new engine, MGU-H and turbocharger.

Hamilton said he took “full responsibility” for the crash, which he was initially at a loss to explain. He spun into a barrier at Ferradura during his first flying lap of the session. As he did not set a time he will require permission from the stewards to take part in the race but as he demonstrated competitive pace in practice this is likely to be a formality.

Hamilton’s team mate Valtteri Bottas took pole position for the race. Team executive director Toto Wolff paid tribute to him and his mechanics, some of which were the victims of an armed mugging on Friday evening.

“A brilliant job from Valtteri,” said Wolff. “It was a great lap from Sebastian [Vettel] in Q3, so Valtteri had to pull out all the stops to claim pole position.”

“After a tough night for a number of our boys following yesterday evening’s incident this was the perfect reward for their professionalism and dedication,” he added.

“It was a tough session for Lewis and obviously very unusual to see him not set a time in qualifying.”

2017 Brazilian Grand Prix

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    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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    11 comments on “Hamilton will start from pits with a new engine”

    1. This is going to be a hell of a race tomorrow… Interestingly, only 3 components are being changed. Mercedes OP strikes again.

      1. Somehow I doubt that. Dont get me wrong I really want to see a great race but for some reason every time race seemed like it is going to be a thriller it all ended on 1st corner. The same with the championship by the way. Looked like to one going to the wire but what? Nothing.

    2. The last thing merc want is a silly T1 collision, smart decision by the team.

    3. Good thing that the monocoque hasn’t been changed. Had that taken place it would’ve been surprising considering Vandoorne’s crash in the equivalent session for the Monaco GP that led to a similar amount of physical damage to his car and didn’t lead to a monocoque change either.

    4. Well, hopefully they’ll turn the wick up.

    5. Starting in pits is a safer option than starting deadlast on this track where tight twisting 1st 2 corners will cause quite a bit of mayhem at the start of race.

    6. and trim him out for max speed

    7. By taking the new parts here and any penalties that might be incurred as they were starting from back of grid anyway, have they avoided taking a grid penalty at Abu Dhabi, and in turn giving him a fresher engine for the final GP?

      1. Well considering that there is only one race left and what you describe is exactly what has happened then yes, of course.

        His car was totaled, was always going to start from the back, the only sensible thing to do was to replace everything now while they had the opportunity.

        It doesn´t take a cunning strategist to work this one out.

    8. The black tire marks on the track show that the car suddenly lost traction and slid off. Seems like the wider tires provide much much more cornering ability to a point and this shows as even the greatest F1Driver today can get caught out. Know this too that only mechanical failure will cause this to happen again and Lewis is sure to have learned this limit of the chassis from the event and won’t get fooled again.

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