The Malaysian Grand Prix will prove a far harder test of cooling and reliability than the Australian GP which was run under relatively cool conditions.
Just five cars retired with reliability problems at the opening race. Far fewer than many predicted based on pre-season testing in Bahrain.
However the teams experienced temperatures of around 38ºC in testing which contributed to their problems. It’s expected Malaysia will pose a similar problem according to Mercedes.
“Malaysia will be more difficult [than Australia],” Niki Lauda told RTL.
“In Sepang actually we are starting from scratch because of the high humidity and temperature. I doubt it will be below 35ºC.”
Teams often make small changes to the cooling requirements for hotter races, but Lauda suggested more drastic changes would be needed.
“In such circumstances, effective cooling of the power unit would indeed be a problem,” he added. “We will have to make changes to the car to resolve the issue.”
The team’s executive chairman Toto Wolff agreed: “I think all the teams are seeking to create the most efficient cooling system.
“Every test or race weekend has been more difficult than we expected, so it will be difficult to cope with the heat in Malaysia.”
