MGU-K 'gremlin' forces Mercedes to curtail power for Abu Dhabi GP

Mercedes has slightly turned down the power of its engine units for Sunday's Abu Dhabi GP amid concerns surrounding the reliability of its MGU-K component.

Engines are on their last miles as F1 reaches the end of its season, increasing risks of break downs. Racing Point's Sergio Perez suffered an MGU-K failure in the Bahrain GP as a podium was in sight.

As a measure of precaution, Mercedes has lowered the output of the component on all its engines for F1's finale at Yas Marina.

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"We've got a bit of a gremlin sitting in there," said Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff.

"The MGU-K is below the power that it should normally give. We don't understand exactly why yet. So we've taken a bit of performance out of it, on all the Mercedes engines."

Racing Point is running new elements on Perez's power unit, but the changes entailed a grid penalty meaning that last weekend's Sakhir GP winner will start the Abu Dhabi GP from the last row.

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