The Silver Arrows still don’t know what caused Lewis Hamilton’s “rare” power unit malfunction that forced him to retire from the most recent Australian Grand Prix, according to Mercedes technical director James Allison.

Suddenly retiring on Lap 17 as he was closing in on the bottom of the standings, the seven-time world champion had pushed his car to the side of the Albert Park Circuit on Turn 10.

It is rare to witness a Mercedes power unit failure, albeit last season in Melbourne, George Russell also retired due to an engine problem.

The power unit from Hamilton’s car has been transferred to the team’s engine facility in Brixworth in order to investigate the underlying reason for his retirement.

“We don’t. “The power units will go back to the capable hands of the Brixworth guys, who can determine what needs to be released,” Allison stated in the Mercedes post-race debrief video.

“All that is known about the incident is the symptoms that occurred at the time, which included an abrupt drop in oil pressure and an engine stop for safety.

“The best thing to do for the future when you know you’ve got a catastrophic loss like that is to kill it there and then you have not got like a load of molten metal.”

“Normally, you have a reasonably clear chain of evidence showing what caused it, which enables you to improve your work going forward. Therefore, Brixworth and HPP (Mercedes High Performance Powertrains) will suffice in the near future—we’re not sure yet.

“There is no doubt that as soon as we find out, they will act quickly and with their special energy to make sure that any risk that arises on any other engine is as reduced as possible.”

The word “pace” stays crucial.

Because Mercedes engines break down so infrequently, the Brackley-based group is still more concerned with the W15’s speed than its dependability.

The 2024 Australian Grand Prix was the first race since the 2018 Austrian Grand Prix where both cars had retired due to a serious crash on the penultimate lap. Russell had also retired from the race.

It exacerbates Mercedes’s awful start to the season, and they seem unfazed by their loss in the most recent round.

Thankfully, DNFs are uncommon for us, he said. “We have drivers that excel at maintaining it on the island, and our general dependability is a strong suit.

“Having a double DNF like that is unusual. We most definitely do not anticipate it to interrupt our season. We are more concerned with the speed because, if you get it right, the season will go well no matter what.

“You will generally avoid DNFs due to the car’s inherent reliability, our methodical approach to maintaining it, and the expertise of our drivers.” Since those other foundations are in reasonable condition, we are only concerned with the pace.