Mercedes' Allison relying on hope to avoid engine penalties

Mercedes technical director James Allison is keeping his fingers crossed that both Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas will avoid engine penalties this weekend at Silverstone.

Both Silver Arrows succumbed to untypical poor reliability last Sunday at the Red Bull Ring linked to engine issues.

Allison is confident Mercedes' failures in Austria will not lead to the replacement of limited and penalty inducing elements.

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“We think that both failures were confined to the items which failed and they are both things which can be replaced without breaking into the sealed areas of the car which attract sporting penalties," said Allison.

“But I say ‘we hope not’ because every time a car stops in an uncontrolled way, where a failure happens and systems are shut down, in a way which is unusual, we can’t be completely sure until we have done all the necessary checks that all the bits of the car which are sealed and which do attract penalties weren’t affected.

"We have got a bit of work on to make sure we are not taking undue risks with parts which might have had some consequential damage when the car was shut down."

It's likely the German outfit won't find itself out of the woods - if indeed it does - until the start of Friday's free practice.

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