The seven-time world champion retired in the early stages of the race at Albert Park after his Mercedes engine shut down following sensors detecting an unspecified problem.
The power unit was flown back to Mercedes’ engine facility at Brixworth for post-race analysis to get an understanding of what happened, with no obvious explanation available immediately and the team unclear about whether or not it could be used again.
But, ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix, Mercedes discovered that the issue was a terminal one, which means the engine cannot be brought back into the allocation pool that Hamilton has available.
Mercedes concluded that the retirement was caused by a bottom end failure, which has been traced back to a quality process issue rather than any specific design problem.
The loss of one of the four engines Hamilton has for the season at such an early stage makes it likely that he will need to take an extra power unit, and therefore a grid drop, at some point later in the campaign.
It appears that the bottom end failure was a one-off, with analysis of the other engines within the current pool for Hamilton and George Russell showing no concerns of there being the risk of a repeat.
Hamilton’s retirement from the Australian GP has heaped further misery on a troubled start to the season for Mercedes, which has not delivered the step forward hoped for from its 2024 car.
Source: Autosport