Mercedes has slammed as “unacceptable” the failure of Lewis Hamilton’s Brembo brand brake disc during qualifying at Hockenheim.
The big crash in Q1, leaving the Briton winded and with bruised knees, further dents Hamilton’s championship charge by leaving him well down the grid.
But he will almost certainly fall to the very back at Hockenheim, because Mercedes will need to revert to the maker of Nico Rosberg’s brake discs – Carbon Industries – for safety reasons ahead of the German grand prix, and therefore fall foul of ‘parc ferme’ rules on Hamilton’s Brembo-spec car.
“It is impossible to determine in such a short time why the disc has broken,” said Toto Wolff.
It is believed Mercedes is arguing Hamilton’s car should be exempt from the ‘parce ferme’ penalty because the change is being done on safety grounds.
In fact, Hockenheim was not Mercedes’ first Brembo disc failure in 2014, as it emerges Rosberg had a similar problem in the Barcelona test.