02/06/2015
NEWS STORY
It has been revealed that both Ferrari and Honda have upgraded their engines ahead of this weekend's Canadian Grand Prix.
The revelation came courtesy of the FIA's Charlie Whiting who has sent a technical directive (TD) to all the teams:
"Further to our note on 13 March (TD/008-15) I can confirm that, in preparation for the Canadian Grand Prix, two power unit manufacturers have used some of their allocated 'tokens'," he wrote.
"As a consequence, and in accordance with Appendix 4 of the F1 Technical Regulations, each manufacturer now has the following number of 'tokens' available for use during the 2015 season:
Mercedes 7
Ferrari 7 (3 used)
Renault 12
Honda 7 (2 used)
Following last year's freeze, this year Mercedes, Renault and Ferrari have been allowed 32 tokens, whilst Honda, in its first season of the new formula only 9.
Under the complicated system, the tokens used by Ferrari and Honda are for performance though it is not known if the upgraded engines will be used this weekend. Upgrades in terms of reliability are a different matter altogether and as such do not require the use of tokens.
No such concerns for Mercedes, where, as Paddy Lowe confirms, whilst the team will be taking new engines there is no need to dip into its token pot.
"We will bring new power units to this event, the second units of 2015 for each driver," said the Briton. "Our first power units were used for six complete race weekends, an incredible achievement that saw both achieve total mileages of over 4,000 km.
"We suspect our competitors may also bring new power units, which this year may be upgraded in-season using development tokens, so it will be interesting to see whether and how the 'balance of power' is shifted this weekend."