Mercedes: Lewis' engine suffered a big-end bearing failure

Mercedes have revealed the cause of Lewis Hamilton's engine blow out which caused him to retire from the Malaysian Grand Prix while he led comfortably and ultimately cost him victory, while dropping him 23 points behind the leader in the championship title race.

Following analysis of the engine failure, a Mercedes spokesperson said, "Our analysis has shown that Lewis' engine suffered a big-end bearing failure. This happened without warning after 618 km and was preceded by a loss of oil pressure in Turn 15."

Hamilton will thus use the engine from the Singapore Grand Prix at this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix, and the world champion still has one new engine for the remaining five rounds.

ESPN reports that as a result of the failure, Mercedes will enforce new running parameters across all its engines this weekend, which will include a more conservative oil specification.

Force India, Williams and Pascal Wehrlein's Manor were scheduled to have updated power units this weekend, but the five drivers will continue to use the Malaysia specification engines.

Championship leader Nico Rosberg has had the latest version of the Mercedes power unit in his car since the Belgian Grand Prix. He too will not get the upgrades earmarked for Suzuka.