“There is a potential DNF risk”– Toto Wolff on Valtteri Bottas’ sixth Internal Combustion Engine of season ahead of USGP

Toto Wolff warns of reliability issues in the Mercedes engines as Valtteri Bottas suffers a five-place grid penalty ahead of the USGP race.

Toto Wolff admitted there is “no durability” in the engine after Valtteri Bottas had to change another engine ahead of the USGP. The Finnish drives will serve a five-place grid penalty for taking a sixth Internal Combustion Engine(ICE) of the season. He previously received back-of-the-grid penalties in Italy and Russia.

UPDATE: @ValtteriBottas has taken his sixth Internal Combustion Engine of the season and will take a five-place grid penalty for the #USGP. pic.twitter.com/GRQEibEFEp

— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) October 22, 2021

The Mercedes F1 team boss said, “we’ve unfortunately had since mid-year some reliability issues that keep coming back. I think we understand it much better now. It means there is no durability in running them and that means a potential DNF risk.”

“Bottas’ penalties are less than the previous ones but it is still not nice because it is a tight battle. If you are going back five places, you are going to have a different life to come back even if you are on pole.”

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A lot of bull***t

Asked if Mercedes is experimenting with other drivers by changing some engine components to see which one is the best to go for Lewis Hamilton, Wolff denied the case.

Wolff added, “You need to have the same specification for everybody, so you can’t make any changes between two engines. Addressing the speculation about the problem with air valves, he added.

“You are being fed with a lot of bull***t. We don’t need to talk about air valves or anything like this because you and I will not understand what it is.”

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