Brit predicts several penalties due to reliability problems; "In at least two races out of the 13 following, I'm going to be behind"
Monday 4 July 2016 13:09, UK
Lewis Hamilton fears he will start at the back of the grid twice before the season is out after reaching the limit for two engine elements at the Austrian GP.
Mercedes confirmed both Hamilton and Nico Rosberg's W07 will be fitted with full fresh power units for this weekend's race, with the change having more immediate ramifications for the Briton.
Having suffered more technical problems than his team-mate so far this season, Hamilton has now reached the five-element limit for the MGU-H and turbocharger. Drivers incur grid penalties when they use six or more of any engine element, with a 10-place grid penalty applied in the first instance.
With 13 races still to come in 2016, Hamilton fears even more replacements will be needed.
"I had engine failure after the last race so I lost another engine and I'm down to one," he told Sky Sports F1 after engine mode issues in Baku. "I knew it was going to happen because I knew we were going to have another problem just from the way it's been going.
"That definitely makes it tough. Nico [Rosberg] has four engines so it's a little bit easier in that respect but I'm probably going to have to start dead last in at least one race, maybe two.
"It shows you that in at least two races out of the 13 following, I'm going to be behind. It's very hard to come back from dead last in some of those races."
Hamilton admits it tough to accept he is so far into his 2016's engine allocation after just eight races compared to other Mercedes-engined cars.
"Well for sure it's not easy to look at the table and you see eight Mercedes drivers and everyone else is on the normal plan, on their second engine and still have four engines left and I only have one left, for sure it doesn't feel great but there's nothing I can do about it," he later told reporters at the Red Bull Ring.
"Speaking to anyone about it won't make no difference, it is what it is. I don't fully understand why it's happened but I just hope that Mercedes grows from it and I hope they learn something from the faults that they've found on mine and hope it doesn't happen to the rest of the Mercedes-Benz engines."
Grid penalties vary depending on how many of the six power unit components (ICE, MGU-K, MGU-H, energy store, turbocharger, and control electronics) are changed.
Hamilton becomes just the second driver after Max Verstappen to hit the penalty-free limit of an engine element so far this season.
