Mercedes deny trying to avoid oil burn limits

Toto Wolff insists Mercedes did not introduce their latest spec engine in Belgium with an eye to avoiding the new Italian GP limit on oil burning.

As of this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix any engine introduced is limited to just 0.9 litres of oil per 100km.

However, as Mercedes raced their new power unit at Spa, one race before, they can still burn 1.2 litres.

Wolff has denied Mercedes did this deliberately with the new limit in mind.

“It was completely blown out of all proportion,” the motorsport boss said.

“The reason we introduced it early was in order to bring some performance to the track, with the risk of having to do many [more] races until the end of the season than our direct competitors.

“Also you lack time for further development. The longer you wait for the last introduction of engine the more you can probably add the upgrade.

“These are the reasons we brought it and not in order to extract a performance advantage out of the capability of burning more oil.

“So if you ask the FIA, you will be quite interested to see what the results are.”