Dj_bereta wrote:So, Hamilton is facing another 15 grid penalty for changing again his engine. Mercedes found a breach in the rules to make sure his driver is going to have two fresh engines while taking all penalties in just one race, despite being impossible to lose 30 grid positions for the race. Nice job FIA.
Mercedes are by no means the first team to do that - given Honda's reliability issues, McLaren took exactly the same approach by fitting multiple sets of all engine components (an even more extreme version than what Mercedes have done with Hamilton, who has just taken new turbocharger and MGU-H units).
Remember, Button racked up a theoretical 70 grid penalty in the 2015 Mexican GP for fitting multiple additional engines, turbochargers and MGU-H and MGU-K units - equally, Ferrari have indicated that they are planning on taking a strategic grid penalty later in the year given that both Vettel and Raikkonen are running low on components (Kimi is on his last MGU-K and Vettel is running low on components after his engine failure in Bahrain). The rule has existed for a while and has been used in exactly that way before - it's just that it is the first time that Mercedes have had to take that route.
Wehrlein's performance in FP2 is pretty impressive too - he punched quite high above the teams weight to pick up 11th, and it does look as if their low drag aero package is helping them quite a bit. Can we dare hope for a second points finish for Manor this season?