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[FerrariFan63]

All the Mercedes cars are now very fast. Has the engine gained a lot of power recently?

[Gilles 27]

Nah, i think it's been the one to have since the start of the season. The power band on the Mercedes is very broad and it delivers it's power very smoothly, making it easy to drive and set up. The Brawn was doing wee with it to start with and still is doing. Force India have done well on the last two, low down-force tracks as they are particularly good in low down-force spec and McLaren have worked hard to get back on the pace.

[darwin dali]

Rumors in the paddock claim that the Mercedes engine has about 25hp on their competition.

[cap-dude]

Well, as Horner said, its no coincidence that the top 7 cars in quali, 6 were using mercedes engines.

It's funny when you look back to a few years ago. I was watching a video from either 2004 or 2005 where they were talking about Kimi's engine being so fragile. A fews years ago, the mercedes engine certainly wasn't the one to have. Now its the best engine by far. Not to mention infallible reliability.

It was a great engine last year, and in 2007. But McLaren were the only cars running the merc engine. Now that Brawn and Force India are running it, we're really seeing what an advantage it is.

[Jabberwocky]

how does all this happen with an engine freeze?

[JamesD89]

With more teams taking Mercedes engines next year, isn't a slip in reliability on the cards?

[bud]

All the Mercedes cars are now very fast. Has the engine gained a lot of power recently?

I wouldnt say its all the engine. Force India have made some big aero gains but we will see how they fair next race to see their true order.

[Stealthgate007]

You could probably say Mercedes is a better high mileage engine.. The BMW and Renault engines are feeling the strain after 3/4 of the season, Robert Kubica having his problems and Seb Vettel having to limit practice time on his remaining engines. Maybe it not Mercedes getting faster, but everyone else getting slower..

[JamesD89]

You could probably say Mercedes is a better high mileage engine.. The BMW and Renault engines are feeling the strain after 3/4 of the season, Robert Kubica having his problems and Seb Vettel having to limit practice time on his remaining engines. Maybe it not Mercedes getting faster, but everyone else getting slower..

Interesting way to think of it. You mean by way of lowering rev limits?

[Stealthgate007]

You could probably say Mercedes is a better high mileage engine.. The BMW and Renault engines are feeling the strain after 3/4 of the season, Robert Kubica having his problems and Seb Vettel having to limit practice time on his remaining engines. Maybe it not Mercedes getting faster, but everyone else getting slower..

Interesting way to think of it. You mean by way of lowering rev limits?

I was thinking compression loss in cylinders for the Renault, bmw, and others. I don't think they would be backing off in revs. But there could be other things like fuel economy and such. You always hear "Mix 2!! Mix 2!!" I'm sure that changes peak power output in some way. So who knows exactly whats going on..

[Jabberwocky]

You could probably say Mercedes is a better high mileage engine.. The BMW and Renault engines are feeling the strain after 3/4 of the season, Robert Kubica having his problems and Seb Vettel having to limit practice time on his remaining engines. Maybe it not Mercedes getting faster, but everyone else getting slower..

you maybe onto something there matey.

[FerrariFan63]

I was thinking compression loss in cylinders for the Renault, bmw, and others. I don't think they would be backing off in revs. But there could be other things like fuel economy and such. You always hear "Mix 2!! Mix 2!!" I'm sure that changes peak power output in some way. So who knows exactly whats going on..

That does make a lot of sense. We had Vettel running really short on engines. But now we're told that he's not going to run out. How do they do that? If it's by nursing the engines to the end of the year, then that would explain the comparative drop off in performance.

It would seem a bit of an odd strategy though. If you're going to be finishing out of the points because you're nursing your engine along, you might as well have taken the grid penalty and raced with a fresh engine.

[Jabberwocky]

I was thinking compression loss in cylinders for the Renault, bmw, and others. I don't think they would be backing off in revs. But there could be other things like fuel economy and such. You always hear "Mix 2!! Mix 2!!" I'm sure that changes peak power output in some way. So who knows exactly whats going on..

That does make a lot of sense. We had Vettel running really short on engines. But now we're told that he's not going to run out. How do they do that? If it's by nursing the engines to the end of the year, then that would explain the comparative drop off in performance.

It would seem a bit of an odd strategy though. If you're going to be finishing out of the points because you're nursing your engine along, you might as well have taken the grid penalty and raced with a fresh engine.

maybe people have planned it all year. if a team is going to do badly at a race then they turn the engine down for that race as they have nothing to loose. or maybe they turn it up to bring it into contention. oooh a stratergy I have not thought of before

[McLaren Fan]

Again, I recall reading in Autosport last year that the Mercedes engine didn't lose as much power over its cycle. The worst engine for losing power - surprise, surprise - is almost certainly the Toyota engine.

[Denthúl]

Again, I recall reading in Autosport last year that the Mercedes engine didn't lose as much power over its cycle. The worst engine for losing power - surprise, surprise - is almost certainly the Toyota engine.

Not really a good thing when you're starting out with the worst engine on the grid. :-\