Mystery surrounds Mercedes engine choice

22/06/2018
NEWS STORY

As FP1 got underway at Paul Ricard, the FIA issued a list of those drivers running new power units and their various components.

While all six Mercedes-powered cars were shown as running new internal combustion engines (ICE), turbochargers and MGU-H, there was no indication as to whether these were to the old spec or the latest spec originally scheduled to be introduced in Canada.

Reacting to the FIA's release, Mercedes confirmed that all the various components are new but said it would not reveal which spec they are until after today's second practice session.

To further tantalise fans, the German outfit tweeted a clip from Scooby-Doo.

Speaking yesterday, Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton both appeared to play down their fears that further problems - following the quality control issues discovered before Canada - might delay the introduction of the new units, though both admitted they would like to receive them sooner rather than later.

Whatever spec the units used in FP1 were, they powered Hamilton and Bottas to first and second on the timesheets, over 0.7s ahead of Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari, while Sergio Perez was ninth.

Check out our Friday gallery from Paul Ricard, here.

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Published: 22/06/2018
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