Toto Wolff has admitted tཧhe method of 'stockpiling' engines on any one race weekend is 'ridiculous' but says Mercedes chose to take advantage of the regulation after its own earlier suggestion to close the loophole was rejected by ri💮vals.

With a penalty-inducing engine change looming for the Belgian Grand Prix, Lewis Hami♚lton changed his engine three times over the course of the Spa weekend, racking up 55 positions worth 🐷of grid drops.

Though previous penalties 'be🃏yond the grid' were converted into time penalties, the dropping of this rule has opened up the opportunity for teams to make several changes without a puni♌shment worse than simply starting at the back of the grid.

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As such, Hamilton - who finished third from 21st oꦉn the grid - has bolstered his power unit pool to the end of the season. Though some have viewed the move cynically, Wolff insists it was Mercedes that led the request to close the loophole last year only to be denied.

"Last year we had a race where Jenson took 52 places which was so ridiculous that we brought forward a regulation that said you cannot stockpile engines so if you use more than one engine on a given ra♑ce weekend that sh🐻ouldn't be happening.

"It's sad that the regulation proposal wasn't accepted by the other teams so, this time around we did the same thing and decided to take more engines on boar🀅d and put them on stock. The system is far from perfect and sounds a bit ridiculous. I think you should probably close that loophole."

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Even so, by Hamilton - unliౠke Nico Rosberg - does now face completing the season without Mercedes' 🌠most recent engine upgrade without picking up a penalty. However, Wolff feels the quantity Hamilton now enjoys outweighs the minor update.

"There is no perfect scenario. If we introduce an upgraded engine that has more perfoꦇrmance it could still be detr✤imental of course but what we are seeing at the moment is that there is no such gain.

"From what we are testing on tꩲhe dynos it is 🌃not showing that it would give Lewis a disadvantage, so I don't see this as something that could affect his championship. The advantages outweigh the disadvantages of having him now with three engines. It's much better.

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