Lewis Hamilton could be set to take on a grid penalty for the final race of the 2018 Formula 1 season in Abu Dhabi next weekend after Mercedes admitted his engine "sustained some level of damage" during the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Hamilton was forced to nurse his car to the chequered flag at Interlagos – a race he eventually won after leader Max Verstappen was involved in a crash with a backmarker – after Mercedes spotted a "significant problem" with his power unit.
James Vowles, Mercedes' chief strategist, explained that the problem was managed by the team who made a "huge number" of changes in the final laps of the race to ensure Hamilton saw the finish – believing a failure was imminent.
"If we just go back a little bit and look at what happened in the race, after the first pit stop with Lewis we noticed quite a significant problem, which required a huge amount of input from a number of sources," explained Vowles.
"We have a team back in the UK at Brixworth who work alongside us on the intercom, and we have a huge team trackside working together diligently to understand what we can change on the engine to get to the end of the race.
"They did a fantastic job. It wasn't one change – it was a huge number of changes across a 40 – 50 lap period, where they were working with Lewis to adjust various componentry and get that Power Unit to the end of the race. They did a fantastic job."
However it might come at a cost as Hamilton could face a grid drop at the final race of the season if the damage is beyond repair, with the Briton on his third and final permitted power unit this season.
Mercedes still need to complete a final assessment to determine the extent of the damage and could choose to revert to an older unit to avoid a penalty, although this brings with it a higher risk of failure given each unit has reached its life expectancy.
"The engine has sustained some level of damage – but we don't yet understand what," added Vowles. "It has to be inspected and understood before we can make any decision going forward to Abu Dhabi."
Mercedes has enjoyed strong reliability this season with Hamilton yet to face a grid drop through an engine related issue all year, whereas Valtteri Bottas has suffered only one engine related penalty at the Belgian GP.
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