F1: Mercedes discovers Hamilton failure cause

Mercedes has discovered the cause of Lewis Hamilton's Formula 1 engine failure during the Malaysian Grand Prix.

The reigning world champion was leading the Sepang F1 race when his engine let go 15 laps from the end in what was his third power unit failure of the year. Following investigations, Mercedes has determined a big-end bearing failure in the crankshaft as the root cause of the engine problem, which it says happened without warning after 618km, and was preceded by a loss of oil pressure in Turn 15.

Hamilton will revert to the engine he used in Singapore for the Japanese GP this weekend, while Rosberg will continue with the power unit he ran in Malaysia. As a precaution, Mercedes is introducing revised running parameters for the works team, as well as customers Williams, Force India and Manor. Those parameters will include, but are not limited to, a different and more conservative oil specification.

All Mercedes customer drivers excluding Manor's Esteban Ocon were set to take new engines this weekend as part of their planned cycle. However, those changes have been delayed until Mercedes has conducted further analysis from stripping Hamilton's failed unit.

Those five customer team drivers will continue to use their units from the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Originally on Autosport.com