F1 News, Reports and Race Results

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.

"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.

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Michael Delaney

Recent Posts

Sainz 'unconvinced' F1 can finish its season in Qatar and Abu Dhabi

The FIA is confident that Formula 1 will conclude its 2026 campaign in Qatar and…

9 hours ago

United States GP: Thursday's media day in pictures

Formula 1 has set up shop in Texas this weekend for the United States Grand…

12 hours ago

Cadillac sets date for major F1 engine milestone

Cadillac is putting the building blocks of its Formula 1 future firmly in place, with…

12 hours ago

Audi hands rising star Slater his first F1 opportunity

Audi protégé Freddie Slater is set for his first taste of Formula 1 machinery, with…

13 hours ago

An eerie calm before a massive storm at Suzuka

As they prepared for their Japanese GP showdown on this day in 1989, McLaren drivers…

16 hours ago

Ferrari’s rivals still have something we don’t, says Leclerc

Charles Leclerc says that Ferrari’s current problem is not finding the right set-up, it’s finding…

17 hours ago