Mercedes responds to Ferrari’s engine upgrades

Mercedes will always stay one-step ahead of Ferrari

(GMM) Ferrari is not the only engine manufacturer that spent some performance development 'tokens' ahead of Russia.

It was already known that Ferrari had upgraded its 'power unit', but Auto Motor und Sport now reports that reigning champions Mercedes have also handed in some tokens – two – for Sochi.

"The modifications relate to the fuel system," the German report said, adding that Petronas is also using a new lubricant in Russia.

The report said the next engine step for Ferrari will come in Canada, where a revised turbo will cost the Maranello marque a further two tokens.

In other news, F1 looks set to rubber-stamp revised engine regulations for 2017 and 2018 by Saturday, even though it emerges the two Red Bull teams, McLaren-Honda, Force India and Sauber voted against them.

"A little strange that some teams voted against their own interests," said Mercedes' Toto Wolff.

He is referring presumably to Force India and Sauber, and the fact that the new rules will result in small price reductions for engine customers.

But it is believed they voted against it on the basis that the cost reduction does not go far enough.

McLaren is believed to be opposed on the grounds that it doesn't want to guarantee engine supplies to customer teams, while Red Bull would prefer an entirely different engine formula.

Mercedes team chairman Niki Lauda admitted that what has been agreed is a compromise.

"Compromises are never good," he said, "but with the current voting procedure, that is all you can get.

"The good thing is that formula one is continuing with hybrid technology, which is what companies like Ferrari, Renault, Honda and Mercedes all want."