Incorrectly pre-set hybrid mode affected both Hamilton and Rosberg's cars; Toto Wolff explains why it took Lewis longer to change settings and absolves him of blame
Monday 20 June 2016 10:16, UK
Mercedes have explained their failure to pre-set the correct energy deployment settings on their cars caused Lewis Hamilton's problems in the European GP.
Hamilton's fightback from 10th on the grid was compromised by a loss of hybrid power during the 51-lap race. The problem affected both the Briton and race-winning team-mate Nico Rosberg's W07s, but Hamilton's took longer to rectify. He finished fifth to drop 24 points behind in the championship battle.
Team boss Toto Wolff said: "We had a configuration setting problem with engine modes which occurred on both cars.
"By regulation we are not allowed to tell the driver [what to do], they needed to figure it out themselves.
"Nico was in the more fortunate situation that he did a switch change just before which kind of led him on the right path, so within half a lap he went back into the right mode.
"Lewis, because he didn't have that right path, it took him a while to figure it out - 12 laps - and this for sure it affected his race."
Mercedes' initial data suggested Hamilton lost 0.2 seconds per lap although Wolff acknowledged "it must have felt much more because the engine was de-rating between turns two and three where you expect the biggest boost".
De-rating happens when there is a lower than maximum electrical deployment from the hybrid part of the power unit.
"The settings were wrong because we had a messy Friday and couldn't configure it in the way we should have done," Wolff added. "So it was pre-set in the wrong way and it happened a little bit earlier on Lewis's car than Nico's car. I think it was three laps earlier."
An increasingly agitated Hamilton was heard urging his engineer over the radio to give him some guidance as to what settings on his steering wheel to change, but the clampdown on pit-to-car communications for 2016 barred the team from telling him.
Wolff confirmed Mercedes sought guidance from the FIA as to what they could tell Hamilton, while the Austrian also absolved the world champion of blame for not finding the correct setting on his wheel sooner.
"Energy deployment is a very complicated tool and there are ways to optimise it to harvest the energy at the right time and deploy the energy at the right time - and that configuration was wrong," the Mercedes chief said.
"It was just one switch change, but you need to find that out and you are [going] 350kph in the car and you are playing around with the steering wheel it's a complex matter.
He added: "I don't think it's down to [Lewis not having done his] homework."
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