Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, 2018

Mercedes’ engine upgrade “would definitely have made a difference” – Wolff

2018 Canadian Grand Prix

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Mercedes executive director Toto Wolff has explained the team’s last-minute decision not to bring the new version of its Formula 1 power unit to this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix.

The team originally stated the new specification units would be available for all six Mercedes-powered cars in the field but announced on Wednesday the upgrade had been postponed to the French Grand Prix.

“We decided to not bring the engine last minute because our last dyno run was not reliable enough,” said Wolff. “And I think DNFs [did not finish] are much more painful and hurtful for the championship than maybe a tenth in performance.”

Valtteri Bottas was beaten to pole position by less than a tenth of a second by Sebastian Vettel. Wolff said the new engines “would definitely have made a difference today.”

“Whether it would have been enough to qualify on pole, for Lewis [Hamilton] to qualify on the front row, we don’t know. But again it’s one of the things that would probably have changed the overall outcome.”

The Mercedes drivers did not run the softest tyres available on the first day of running because Mercedes chose fewer sets of them than their rivals. Wolff said decisions such as this, and the failure to bring the power until upgrade, demonstrate the fine margins which determine success in F1 at the moment.

“The fact is this is a championship which is going to be won and lost in the tiniest of margins,” he said. “Certainly not having given the drivers enough track time on the hyper is something that, if we could have changed it now on the weekend, we would have.

“We just started to drive on the hyper today. Was that the decisive factor? Probably not. [If] we had brought the engine upgrade it would have been an advantage.

“We just can’t miss out on the tiniest of upgrades. The smallest of mistakes will be penalised. And the same applies for our competitors. This is going to make the difference between winning and losing the weekend.”

Wolff indicated he expects the team’s decision to prioritise the ultra-soft tyre over the hyper-soft will be vindicated. “I personally am of the opinion that if we can optimise on one set of tyre that is eventually going to be the tyre on which you qualify, it will give you an advantage, whatever that is.”

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