'Quality issue' with world champions' upgrade forces them to reschedule introduction of second 2018 engine for French GP
Monday 10 December 2018 16:44, UK
Mercedes have delayed the introduction of their upgraded engine until after this weekend's Canadian GP.
The world championship leaders will now debut their second engine of the season at the next race in France on June 22-24 after identifying a "quality issue" with the upgrade package that had been scheduled for Montreal.
All three teams that run Mercedes power - the world champions' works outfit, plus customers Force India and Williams - will therefore continue with the same engines they have used during the season's opening six rounds for one more race weekend.
The two-week delay puts Mercedes out of step with their rivals in Canada.
Renault and Honda have already confirmed their own engine updates for this weekend, with Ferrari expected to follow suit on one of F1's most power-centric circuits.
"Although we had hoped to introduce PU2 [power unit two] this weekend, a quality issue means that this has now been delayed by one race," said a Mercedes spokesman.
"So all Mercedes-powered cars will be running PU1 for this weekend, too, before receiving new units in France."
Tighter regulations surrounding F1 power units for 2018 means teams can only use three core engines per car without penalty during the 21-race season, meaning the units effectively have to last for seven races each.
Mercedes, Force India and Williams have each used one internal combustion engine per car for the six race weekends since the season began.
Of F1's four engine manufacturers, Mercedes' cars have required the fewest number of changes to power unit elements for reliability reasons so far this season.
The Brackley outfit head into this weekend's Canadian round ahead in both world championship races, with Lewis Hamilton 14 points clear of Sebastian Vettel in the drivers' standings and the team 22 points ahead of Ferrari in the constructors'.
Hamilton has won on F1's last three visits to Montreal and is chasing an unprecedented fourth victory on the spin, and record-equalling seventh in total, at the circuit.
