Toto Wolff has assured that Mercedes F1 PU is “absolutely good” ahead of the development freeze that implements from Thursday.
To limit spending and make manufacturers focus on next-generation cars of 2026 a development freeze was put in place for this season.
Mercedes has arguably possessed the most powerful power unit ever since the start of the hybrid era. However, rivals Ferrari and Honda have worked hard to close the gap. Now, it appears that the gap is finally closed.
Development freeze is already in place for a different number of components. Now, MGU-K, Energy Store, and Control Electronics will be locked in on Thursday, September 1st.
Asked if the Mercedes F1 power unit is completely optimized for maximum performance, the Silver Arrows team principal responded:
“Yeah.
“The power unit is absolutely good. We’ve seen everybody is pretty much within five kilowatts.”
Referring to the straight-line speed deficit Mercedes has suffered this season, Wolff said:
“The direction we took, together with the drivers for the race, to mount this wing of a 380 Airbus on the back obviously caused a lot of drag, flaps out.”
Even during Freeze, the teams will be allowed to make small changes to the parts. It will be allowed solely for reliability only.
FIA will be closely monitoring that no significant changes that can result in performance benefits are made.
Mercedes still needs to work a lot on the straight-line speed. Silver Arrows have a huge straight-line deficit compared to rivals Red Bull and Ferrari with Red Bull clearly having the fastest car in a straight.
Mercedes is currently running 3rd on the constructors standings 41 points behind Ferrari.
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