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Reliability can be a deciding factor in not only a single race, but also the race for the championship, as any one occurrence could go a long way in deciding the outcome of the final standings. Reliability has been strained in 2017 and Mercedes boss Toto Wolff believes there is a valid reason why.
In order to achieve the maximum results, he says teams are pushing to the absolute limit meaning it is easy to tip over the edge and have a failure. At the front, Ferrari has been suffering more than Mercedes in terms of reliability, with the Maranello team using more of their allocated components than their German rivals.
When asked why is reliability taking a hit this year, Wolff answered: "Because we are all going to the absolute limit. You cannot afford to give up a hundredth of a second in a fight like the one between us and Ferrari," he told Auto Motor und Sport.
Despite pure speed and performance being vital, Valtteri Bottas thinks that reliability is just as important, pointing to current title runners Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton: "A zero point score could hurt in the end," the Finn said. "If Lewis (Hamilton) had the problem (in Barcelona), Sebastian (Vettel) would now be more than 30 points ahead."
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And that is why the new limit of allocated components is detrimental to the sport. 5 components was a decent limit, but only 4 of each is not good. Add to it that not all components wear and tear equally, some components last longer and would perhaps not need 4 allocations, while others would nee... [Read more]