Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said he feared an “instant kill” and a double retirement, but has vowed that the team will avoid a repeat at this weekend’s Styrian Grand Prix.
Mercedes comfortably led the season-opening round in Austria but faced a worsening gearbox issue on both cars, thought to relate to vibrations arising from the W11s running across the Red Bull Ring’s kerbs.
Valtteri Bottas held on to record victory and while Lewis Hamilton finished second on track he was demoted to fourth owing to a penalty for colliding with Alexander Albon.
Mercedes nonetheless had concerns over a double failure at a circuit where both of its cars failed to finish in 2018.
“The situation was pretty serious right away from the start,” said Wolff.
“It started with issues on Valtteri’s car and it’s something that can be an instant kill and we didn’t really know what it was.
“We know that it was somehow linked to vibrations and agitation of the car and that’s why we advised them very early to stay off the kerbs.
“At a certain stage it looked like we would not finish the race with both cars. So we were trying to really cruise home.”
Formula 1 will stay on at the Red Bull Ring for this weekend’s Styrian Grand Prix and Wolff has emphasised that there will be no repeat of the setback.
“We have a great group around [Chief Trackside Engineer] Simon Cole on trackside reliability and he and his team are going to solve that problem for next week,” said Wolff.
“Reliability issues come from the kerbs, it’s a great track but if you run the kerbs too wide which is within the rules, you damage the suspension.
“By nature the drivers want to go as quick as possible, but by doing that you risk the suspension, damage or vibrations to the car.”
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