Lewis Hamilton’s F1 title hopes have been dealt another major blow with the British driver set to be forced to accept a five place grid penalty at this weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix. Mercedes will change the combustion engine on his car in Interlagos, having noticed a drop in water pressure during the race in Mexico last Sunday.
Hamilton already trails Max Verstappen by 19 points in the title race, and now has it all to do if he’s to claw back any of that deficit this weekend.
He took a mandatory 10-place penalty at last month’s Turkish Grand Prix after his team installed a fourth power unit of the campaign in his vehicle, but now the reigning Constuctors’ champions have hit more problems at a critical stage of the season.
F1 journalist Julianne Cerasoli was among the first to break the news via Twitter, posting “Hamilton will change the combustion engine in Interlagos. Mercedes thought they had solved the problem they had, but they noticed a drop in water pressure during the Mexico race.”
The seven-time world champion was already perceived to be at a disadvantage in Sao Paulo, a venue which traditionally favours Red Bull and where Verstappen triumphed when a Grand Prix was last held there in 2019.
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At Wednesday’s drivers’ press conference Hamilton, 36, refused to be drawn on the issue.
“I can’t really comment at the moment,” he told reporters. “I don’t know. I don’t think the engines have even arrived this morning.
“So as far as I’m aware currently, my engine is fine. But I’ll find out obviously, later on. We’ve not even done engineering meeting yet.”
The news comes just 48 hours after Hamilton, 36, admitted he felt he and his team “were in trouble” if Red Bull continued to show the pace they did in Mexico and the previous race in the US, where Verstappen, 24, also triumphed.
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And having won just once in the last eight races, the British driver admitted in his press conference that he faced an uphill task this weekend, regardless of any penalty.
“I would imagine as steep [a hill] as it can be,” said Hamilton. “I think their pace was phenomenal in the last race.
“They’ve had a strong car all year. They’ve had the strongest car all year you can tell obviously. I think we’ve done as good as we think we could.
“We will definitely be pushing this weekend to see if we can squeeze any more out of the car. Last time here [in Brazil] they were incredibly strong.
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