The power unit that suffered an MGU-H failure on Lewis Hamilton's car during qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix has been repaired and will be taken to the Russian Grand Prix as a spare.
The issue prevented Hamilton taking part in qualifying, meaning he had to start the race from the back of the grid before fighting his way back to seventh at the finish. A completely new power unit was fitted for the race in China while the one with the issue was sent back to the team's engine factory for further evaluation.
"The power unit in question arrived back at Brixworth in the early hours of Thursday morning of the week following the race and investigation into the failure has been on-going every minute since its return to the factory," a Mercedes press release revealed. "The MGU-H has been stripped and the issue is suspected to be associated with the insulation. The turbocharger will be replaced in addition to the oil pumps, after debris was found in the oil system. With the repairs completed, this power unit will remain in the driver pool and travel to Sochi as a spare."
Drivers have an allocation of five complete power units per season and Hamilton is now on his second after three of 21 races. However, the freedom to use the undamaged components from his first power unit as spares will take the strain off his allocation over the course of the season.
Hamilton, meanwhile, remains upbeat about his chances this year.
"There was plenty going through my head after China, as you'd expect," he said. "But, after all these years, experience has taught me to stay calm and keep pushing forwards when I get knocked back. I've been here before a few times now. A lot can happen over the next eighteen race weekends and I have the utmost confidence in this team.
"But adversity is part of the journey: it brings us closer, makes us stronger and I know that together we'll bounce back, so I'm confident of better weekends to come. There are lots of positives to carry into the next battle. If nothing else, I know after these first few races that I can still overtake! I had a great start in China too, so hopefully I can continue that and use it to my advantage to build my races from a better base.
"It's Russia up next - a race that I've won on both occasions so far and a track that seems to suit me pretty well, so let's see what we can do there..."