{"id":747269,"date":"2026-06-19T13:05:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T13:05:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/747269\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T13:05:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T13:05:11","slug":"mercedes-reveals-conclusions-after-costly-dnfs-in-recent-f1-races","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/747269\/","title":{"rendered":"Mercedes reveals conclusions after costly DNFs in recent F1 races"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mercedes<\/a> has identified an issue with its battery that is at the heart of its recent Formula 1 race retirements which have cost both George Russell<\/a> and Kimi Antonelli, and is working on a permanent fix.<\/p>\n

After Russell\u2019s Mercedes conked out while he was leading the Canadian Grand Prix last month, Antonelli suffered the same fate while running in second place in the Barcelona GP last weekend. Both were linked to a failure with Mercedes’ battery.<\/p>\n

While not specifically linked to the works team\u2019s problem, customer squad McLaren<\/a> has also suffered a run of electrical trouble; Lando Norris<\/a> needed a battery change during the Monaco GP weekend and retired from the race with power unit settings being noted as the cause of his DNF, while both Norris and Oscar Piastri<\/a> failed to start the Chinese GP with separate electrical issues.<\/p>\n

Speaking immediately after the Barcelona GP, Wolff said Mercedes can\u2019t afford the run of retirements in the battle for the F1 world titles and the team would \u201cleave no stone unturned to understand\u201d what was causing the unreliability.<\/p>\n

Read Also:<\/p>\n

After diagnosing Antonelli’s car after the Barcelona race, Mercedes technical director James Allison said the team has pinpointed the issue to its power unit\u2019s battery and a permanent fix is being worked on.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think anyone who’s a keen watcher of the sport will have seen that this has laid a few Mercedes engine cars low over the season so far,\u201d Allison said on Mercedes\u2019 Nu Silver Arrows Radio Show. \u201cThey’re not all identical, but they do sort of originate in the same broad part of the battery.<\/p>\n

\"George <\/p>\n

George Russell, Mercedes<\/p>\n

Photo by: Guido De Bortoli \/ LAT Images via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that most of the areas of risk have been understood. And with a bit of luck, when we start to sort of phase in the new modules into the racing season\u2013 we call the battery ‘the module’\u2013 then our fortunes as a fleet should pick up.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously for us, that’s an important thing. These DNFs are very, very painful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking more broadly about how the team designs and builds parts with reliability in mind, Allison explained how the team aims to identify failures either in testing or in engine rigs to avoid being exposed in races \u2013 but inevitably, when pushed to extremes and in different racing conditions, previously unidentified weaknesses can appear.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou accept that there will be failure. We try to make sure that failure happens in testing or on rigs and that it happens as little as possible when you’re out there trying to earn championship points,\u201d Allison said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, clearly it doesn’t always work because occasionally the car will DNF and that is definitely a failure of our process and all of our attempts to deliver performance without the downside of that performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut when a failure like that does happen, then in the first instance and perhaps before it’s fully understood, then the team will tend to take a slight half-step backwards to be more cautious with the equipment, to push it slightly less hard, just to give a little bit of resilience to the kit that’s obviously suffering.<\/p>\n

\"James <\/p>\n

James Allison, Mercedes<\/p>\n

Photo by: Erik Junius<\/p>\n

\u201cBut a different part of the team will try to figure out what was the root cause of that failure to design that out, prove that out and put something back on the table that is sufficiently robust.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo you do a first intervention that is just to try to sort of give the vulnerable thing an easier life while then working on a proper cure that lets you really cane it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mercedes hasn\u2019t given a timeline on when the \u201cproper cure\u201d will be ready as it begins preparations for four race weekends across five weeks, starting with the Austrian GP next weekend.<\/p>\n

But given its two DNFs in Canada and Barcelona have effectively cost 43 points – ignoring changes of positions for the sister car after the retirements – Mercedes’ dominant position in the F1 world constructors’ championship has been eroded to 72 points by Ferrari<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Read Also:<\/p>\n

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– The Autosport.com Team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mercedes has identified an issue with its battery that is at the heart of its recent Formula 1…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":747270,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[262910,49,48,148380,578,576,577,1881,267505,82],"class_list":["post-747269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-barcelona-catalunya-gp","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-circuit-de-barcelona-catalunya","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-mercedes","tag-mercedes-reveals-conclusions-after-costly-dnfs-in-recent-f1-races","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=747269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747269\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/747270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=747269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=747269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=747269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}