Mercedes hold engine concerns before Italian GP

Toto Wolff admits that Mercedes are yet to fully get to the bottom of the engine failures suffered by customer teams Racing Point and Williams at the Belgian Grand Prix.

After Sergio Perez ground to a halt towards the end of Friday practice at Spa-Francorchamps, Kubica suffered a spectacular blowout in the first segment of qualifying.

The Silver Arrows boss says Friday practice in Monza will be crucial to Mercedes' understanding of the issues, with back-to-back races giving them less time to fully look into them.

Wolff told Motorsport.com: "We kind of understand a little bit. We've had five days of looking at things, and we have indications of what happened.

"Obviously with these things you can mitigate some of the risks, but it's not completely analysed in the end."

On the impact it could have on Mercedes, and their customers' Monza running, Wolff said: "That is not yet totally clear. We will know more tomorrow when we have run them. It's still an unknown."

Kubica was nonplussed when explaining that he will drive with a power unit that has six races in it, on a track that challenges the engine like no other.

"We wouldn't be able to put the new ones together in time. It's a capacity problem," Wolff explained. "There were only six. Some spares, but not enough."

The issues are more keenly felt at Mercedes' customers, with Valtteri Bottas suggesting confidence remains within the Silver Arrows that they should get by fine.

He said: "For the moment what I've heard in the meetings today there are no concerns going forward.

"I think everything is understood, and we should be able to run full power. So no concerns for now."

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