They may be leading both the driver’s and constructor’s standings heading into the final 7 races of the season, but Mercedes are not without their doubts when it comes to the performance of their 2021 contender.
Speaking to reporters ahead of the next round in the 2021 championship, the Silver Arrows Team Principal, Toto Wolff admitted they have some question marks over the quality of the engine.
He said; “I think we haven’t only made the cautionary engine change because we felt we wanted to stockpile, but also because we want to understand the engine’s performance – and that has given us some question marks.”
Although he would not divulge what exact details on they are questioning on the W12, Wolff said; “We’re just taking it one race weekend at a time – and then we’ll reassess the performance of the power units and then take decisions.
“At the moment we are reassessing the performance of the power units because we have question marks, and therefore haven’t decided which engines would go back into the pool,” he added.
With power unit designs being frozen from 2022 to 2025, the pressure is on for all engine supplies to provide top performance ahead of the deadline.
“That’s why we’re having a few balls in the air,” according to Toto, “because you need to have the right balance between making sure that you really sort out all the gremlins that you have in the power unit, not only this year but also for next year’s power unit.
“So definitely we are in a phase of assessment, [of] how to continue this season in terms of power units.”
