In an open letter on their website addressed to fans, the team also outlined how Nico Rosberg's lead was also jeopardised by 'alarming' read-outs from the MGU-K, which forced the German to complete the race in a 'safe' mode. Mercedes conceded that both incidents highlighted how they have 'not met your own expectations' in terms of reliability in 2016.

"We were baffled and gutted by the repeat MGU-H failure on Lewis' car in qualifying," Mercedes explained in reference to the Briton's issues on Saturday, "but we kept calm, gathered our thoughts and sprung into action.

"It took a monumental effort from a significant number of people back in the UK and in Russia to fly spare parts out to the track, fit them to the spare Power Unit by working through the night and make sure Lewis could start from P10 on Sunday without having broken parc ferme.

"[In the Grand Prix] we started to see the water pressure falling on Lewis' car. At the time, he was pushing hard to catch Nico and pull away from Kimi - posting several purple lap times in the process.

"We needed to await confirmation from the FIA of what we could tell him via the radio. After several calls asking him to take it easy, the all-clear came to let him know that he was losing water pressure.

"With zero - yes, zero! - water pressure remaining for the last 16 laps, the job he did to nurse the car home and still retain second place was truly remarkable. He had to keep the car as cool as possible to avoid damaging the engine whilst also keeping Kimi at a safe distance, which was no mean feat.

"We genuinely aren't sure by what miracle the car limped across the line - but we're certainly not going to complain."