An interesting development from the Mercedes AMG Petronas team who announced they would delay introducing the upgraded, second engine spec for this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix.
“Although we had hoped to introduce PU2 this weekend, a quality issue means that this has now been delayed by one race.
“So all Mercedes-powered cars will be running PU1 for this weekend, too, before receiving new units in France.”
The Canadian GP circuit is known as a power track and the increased shove from the new Mercedes power unit would have been a very welcome friend for not only Mercedes but for their customers, Williams and Force India.
Ferrari is slated to bring the PU2 as is Honda with the Toro Rosso team. Renault are still deliberating their move this weekend and on the heels of a Red Bull victory in Monaco, there is no doubt they would welcome a new and improved Renault power unit this weekend.
Mercedes driver, Lewis Hamilton, always does well in Canada and more shove would have been a big help especially if Ferrari’s upgraded power unit is substantially better than the PU1. Regardless, my hunch is that Mercedes will still do well, it is a circuit that suits their car but let’s see how well Ferrari gets on with its new engine.
Hat Tip: Autosport
Mercedes must be pretty confident of the reliability of PU1, a 7th race at a high power circuit. A major p.u failure would eliminate the chance to bring a third upgrade this season, without taking penaties. Mind you they probably have very good reason for that confidence, according to maxF1.net, all of the Mercedes powered cars are still on their first icu, turbo, mgu-k and mgu-h, and all but Bottas and Perez are on their first ES and CE. The Works Ferrari’s have also made 6 GP weekends on the same icu, turbo, mgu-k and mgu-h. We need some proper… Read more »
I agree 100% that the new power units are the most powerful and most efficient on a dyno but stretching these things to 7 races means that on the racetrack they are hobbled to ensure they make the 7 races. I’d personnaly like to see these engines scream with all fuel they can ingest and maybe only need to last 2-3 (maybe 4) races.
Hardly hobbled, but certainly down on the quali mode.
It would be interesting to know what they could do if there were no fuel rate limitation, though I’m really impressed with how far they’d come in reliability and power in four seasons.
I can’t wait to see the difference between Ferrari and the Mercedes. I’m guessing it will be like the Mercedes is standing still.
I am a bit curious why the others are changing after 6 races though, wouldn’t that mean that they would need to run one of their remaining 2 PU’s for 8 races!? Maybe they are predicting the reliability of the 2nd and 3rd PU will be better than the first.
Cheers SubC, it will be interesting to see if a fresh upgraded Ferrari p.u is significantly quicker than a depleted 7 race old Mercedes p.u. I suspect Mercedes have still got a few party poppers left, especially after the very low demands put on the p.u’s in the 8 -10sec a lap off quali pace race at Monaco. I suspect that the reason Ferrari, Renault and Honda are introducing fresh upgraded p.u’s in Canada is because its a track where more power is expected to make a difference to placings. The used p.u elements then go in the shed, ready… Read more »
The 3 PU per season rule made many believe that each PU will have to last for 7 race weekends in a 21 race season. The teams that are introducing number 2 upgraded PU after 6 races will be using it on reduced race weekend mileage for as long as they can use number 1 PU during FP1 and FP2. And the same thing will happen when number 3 upgraded PU is introduced. Those that will introduce number 2 PU upgrade at the 7th race will be doing the same, but with a one race weekend older number 1 PU.… Read more »
That makes sense, keep running the ‘old’ lump to do all the track learning, set up etc, and keep the ‘new’ party mode p.u for Quali, and the race.
It would be interesting if we could know how many k’s the p.u elements actually do over a season.
I’m thinking 2017 Brazilian GP when Merc took the new engine and had a significant advantage over everyone else.
Hey … this could really spice up the improbability, if so many cars will be on their 7th race on the same PU! I find myself with last minute tickets to the race, so I will be there in person to see what happens!
I’ll be in Grandstand 31 (the chicane at turns 7 & 8). Has anyone ever sat there before? Looking forward to the race!