Hamilton reverts to Melbourne engine but other new elements of power unit introduced; Fuel system flown in from Mercedes factory to match up with specification of upgrade introduced in Sochi
Thursday 19 May 2016 11:43, UK
Lewis Hamilton's 10th-place starting position for the Russian GP has been confirmed after repairs to his Mercedes engine did not trigger penalties.
The world champion's power unit has been fitted with a new turbocharger, MGU-H, energy store and control electronics after a failure in qualifying but Hamilton remains inside the five unit limit for each element so no penalty is applied.
Hamilton reverts to his first engine used at the Australian GP with Mercedes also chartering a plane to fly a new fuel system to Sochi on Saturday night, with the team needing to introduce replacement parts of the same specification after upgrading their power units for this weekend.
The revised power unit was successfully fired up in the Mercedes garage and Hamilton is set to take his place on the fifth row of the grid for the race which begins at 1pm BST, live on Sky Sports F1.
Team-mate and championship leader Nico Rosberg starts on pole and is well placed to increase his 36-point championship lead.
Speaking on Saturday night, Hamilton appeared downcast about the latest setback to his title challenge, but vowed to fight back in the race from wherever he started.
Asked if he was beginning to think 2016 might not be his year after problems at all four grands prix so far, he replied: "I'm not really thinking of that at the moment, there is still a long way to go.
"I'm always trying to turn negatives into positives and, as I said at the last race, this is another big challenge and the challenge is becoming greater. Every challenge is an opportunity to rise.
"I quite like that approach and even when it seems like it's the darkest of days, there's always some light there and as long as you focus on that there will be a brighter day up ahead. That's how I think, that's how I feel, and that's what's going to power me forwards."
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff described the second successive problem in a power unit in Hamilton's car, caused by an overheating MGU-H, as a "freak failure" given the team believed they had identified the cause of the problem first time round in China.
And although the issue has afflicted engines in Hamilton's car so far, Wolff said it was not being caused by the world champion's driving.
"We have eight power units out there. Seven didn't have any problems and one had the problem twice," he added.
"You need to turn every stone and look at settings, because it happens in the same circumstances in qualifying twice - out laps, not in the race. So I wouldn't exclude any failure, but definitely it is not something that is obvious because we would have found out.
"It's certainly not Lewis. You need to look at settings on the MGU-H or any setting that could have an influence on the functionary of the power unit."
Wolff also batted away any suggestion the pre-season switch of some crew members between Hamilton and Rosberg's garages had made any impact on the Briton's series of setbacks.
"The crews are doing a great job," he said. "We changed the chief mechanic and some other mechanics on the cars, but that has nothing to do with it. It's an unfortunate run of things."
