Mercedes: Hamilton Protected his Engine

Mercedes believe Lewis Hamilton protected his engine during his 2nd place at the Australian Grand Prix.

Hamilton, had to chase Sebastien Vettel’s Ferrari during the closing stages of the race, after the German’s well-timed pitstop during the Virtual Safety Car meant he was able to rejoin the race in the lead.

Andrew Shovlin, Mercedes’ trackside engineering director, spoke of the race and the engine saying:

"You may have heard us on the radio telling Lewis it was getting hot, which is just the fact that when the cars get so close you don't get clean air going into the radiators keeping it cool.

"It did get quite close to its limit temperature, and we are monitoring all these limits very closely.

"You can run up to them, you just have to be careful that you don't run over them.

"In Lewis's case we were OK. We were just up around the limit and you heard Lewis on the radio say that he couldn't get by and he was going to save the engine.

"At that point he just backed off and he was cooling the car."