Repeat of Austria issue may lead to "cautious" Mercedes approach

Mercedes may have to adopt a "cautious" approach to this weekend's Styrian Grand Prix if the issues that materialised during the season opener at the Red Bull Ring again materialise.

Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton were both warned to stay off the circuit's high-profile kerbs during the 71-lap Austrian Grand Prix as the W11s were hit with gearbox sensor problems that almost led to a double retirement.

Bottas claims the team has managed to source the weak spot and is hoping a fix will be applied in time going into the second round of the campaign at the same track.

"I'm pretty confident the team has tried to do things to fix it ready for this weekend," said Bottas, who took the chequered flag on Sunday from Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, with Hamilton fourth after a five-second penalty was applied for causing a collision with Red Bull's Alex Albon. "Obviously, it's limited in the regulations as to how much you can do and how much you can't when it's about the gearbox, but they've localised the issue and I've full trust they're going to fix it, just when is the question."

With regard to the team's approach to the weekend, starting with the first and second practice sessions on Friday, Bottas added: "We're running quite a few sensors to try and monitor what's going on and see if this issue will reappear.

"If it will, for sure we will need to be on the cautious side. We obviously want to finish the races and get the full points if we can.

"But that's something we should be wiser after Friday to see how things are. If we potentially have to drive differently, we'll see."

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