"We had the problem with the wheel shield that broke," reveals Mercedes boss following Kimi Antonelli's Silverstone heartbreak.

Very much the favourite throughout the Silverstone weekend, the Italian teenager looked set not only to claim his maiden win at Silverstone, but put an end to any hope of his teammate putting together a winning streak following his Red Bull Ring victory.

However, late in the race, whilst hunting down leader Charles Leclerc, Antonelli reported that something wasn't right with his car. Trying to explain to his team the issue, he was forced to make two unscheduled pit stops dropping him down the order.

Desperate to continue, insisting that there was still a point - one point - on the table the teenager carried on, even though the team was urging that the battle was lost.

Compounding his frustration was the fact that due to the erratic handling of the Mercedes he violated track limits on numerous occasions, eventually earning a 5s penalty, a penalty that, in light of the subsequent Safety Car period and restart, meant his efforts were in vain as he dropped out of the points.

Speaking post-race, Toto Wolff revealed the cause of Antonelli's heartbreak.

"We had a problem with the wheel shield that broke," said the Austrian. "It looks like it is brake duct, cake tin, wheel shield," he added. "Something got stuck in there and that's why he wasn't able to turn.

"I've seen the car but it's not yet clear," he added. "We're going to take it back to the factory in order to take it apart to see really where it happened, why it happened, and why we had severe consequences of him not being able to turn it."

Asked about Antonelli's insistence on continuing, despite the obvious futility of his plight, Wolff said: "If it was me, I would have made the call ten laps to the end because of safety issues. But then the suspension looked ok, that's the biggest issue.

"He was then basically surviving from lap-to-lap and saying that he could do that. At the end if we are able to get rid of that penalty, if, these points could be decisive in the championship..."

Indeed, infuriated by the 5s penalty that was to drop him out of the points, Mercedes was going to appeal, but ultimately decided not to.

Explaining their decision, the stewards said: "It was evident that Car 12 left the track at Turn 6 on Lap 44 without a justifiable reason. This was the driver's fourth track limits infringement of the race.

Though they "accepted that Car 12 was experiencing a mechanical issue", "that did not amount to a justifiable reason for leaving the track".

Consequently, "in accordance with the Penalty Guidelines, the standard penalty for a fourth track limits infringement during the race was a 5 second time penalty".

However, Wolff is in no doubt about the outcome of the race had his driver not suffered the failure.

"That would have been an epic end of the race," he told F1 TV. "He would have caught Charles six laps to the end with a huge tyre offset.

"But it's a mechanical sport. These things can happen."