Mercedes postpones engine update: second power unit only in France

I In the official preview press release, Mercedes sports director Toto Wolff announced that all six Mercedes cars in Montreal will start with fresh engines. Two days later they rowed back. There are no new engines for Hamilton, Bottas and Co. after all. The same drive units are used as in the first six races.

Mercedes with engine disadvantage in Montreal?

About the reason for the measure can only be speculated. The manufacturer is officially claiming a quality problem. However, it is also possible that the engineers asked for a few more days of development time. With only three engines allowed for the entire season, the performance updates can no longer be spread as often. So when a new engine comes along, it should also be worthwhile in terms of horsepower. Mercedes could benefit from the measure at the end of the season.

But power is also a not entirely unimportant topic in Montreal. It will be interesting to see how much the Mercedes teams are limited by the shift in terms of mileage and the use of powerful engine mappings. When the plans for the operation of the first engine packages were drawn up, the engineers certainly did not have in mind that drive unit number 1 would have to survive seven races.

Confusion about Ricciardo penalty

The competition from Ferrari will compete as planned with the second engines in Canada. The customer teams HaasF1 and Sauber had already tried the upgrade at the Monaco race weekend. Problems could not be seen. That is why at least Sebastian Vettel can now also benefit from the power upgrade. Teammate Kimi Räikkönen had to involuntarily have a second drive unit installed in Barcelona. With the Iceman, it is therefore still unclear how Ferrari will adapt the engine program.

Honda and Renault also have new drive components. However, there is still a little confusion as to whether Daniel Ricciardo is threatened with relocation because of the MGU-K problem in Monaco. Red Bull designer Adrian Newey was pessimistic about “Reuters”. According to our information, the Australian could avoid a penalty again.