Italian GP: Mercedes Use All of Their Remaining Engine Tokens Ahead of Monza

[Jack Hunsley]

Reigning world champions Mercedes GP have elected to use all of their remaining engine development tokens for the season ahead of the Italian Grand Prix.

Having held their cards close to their chest in regards to engine development since their last major upgrade ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix back in June, Mercedes have now taken the plunge and have used all seven of their remaining development tokens.

However, contrary to what we might have expected, the focus of these developments is not solely focused on maximising and extending Mercedes' power advantage for Monza, but is instead aimed at giving the team a head start for the 2016 season.

The team claim the changes introduced will form the cornerstone for the development path they wish to take for next season, whilst the changes will also allow their lubricant supplier, Petronas, to test new products on the car.

For the time being, only Mercedes themselves will run these new spec engines, however there is a potential that their customer teams will also have the chance to test them in the closing races of the season.

Out of the other engine suppliers Honda have four tokens remaining, Renault 12 and Ferrari 10. Action from Monza will kick off at 9am local time, so stick with Race Department throughout the weekend for more breaking news.

 

[Andy 'Mars Bar' Graham]

is instead aimed at giving the team a head start for the 2016 season.

Not like that they already have a headstart as it is

 

[Risto Kappet]

So much for Ferraris hopes after spending 3 tokens
Cant imagine what gaps to expect after this upgrade, hope for some record speeds and times!

 

[Deleted member 161052]

What I could see on the image is that Mercedes will sponsor "Petronas Syntium" instead of the usual "Petronas" for the race

 

[Frederic Schornstein]

It is such a joke, that Honda has the least tokes and the worsed engine. Mercedes spent lots of tokens last year and when Honda came they got the average of the 3 teams, so Renault had something like 12 tokes and Merc. 5 or 6 and Ferrari in the middle. I am not a big fan of Honda and how they came back, but that was pretty unfair, that they got less tokes than Renault

 

[Turk]

You have to remember Honda are at least a year behind everyone. Remember merc cars bursting into flames? Its unfortunate for the company they have to do testing and development on a world stage. The fact they can put a car on track at all is an incredible engineering feet.

 

[BoogerMac]

Can someone explain to a new F1 fan what "engine tokens" are?

I did some research, but all I could find were articles talking about the tokens and throwing around numbers. I read there are 66 "tokens" and they have something to do with pre-season and in-season development...and for some reason, Honda can't use them yet.

Any help is appreciated.

 

[Milos]

Can someone explain to a new F1 fan what "engine tokens" are?

I did some research, but all I could find were articles talking about the tokens and throwing around numbers. I read there are 66 "tokens" and they have something to do with pre-season and in-season development...and for some reason, Honda can't use them yet.

Any help is appreciated.

Not 100% sure but I think it's this

there are 66 "parts" of an engine, and 7 parts are blocked, so you can't change 7 parts of the engine, unless it's for safety reasons. For a single season you can spend 32 tokens (so change 32 parts), but you can also save the tokens for later seasons.
The manufacters already spent most of their tokens by now.

 

[Turk]

Can someone explain to a new F1 fan what "engine tokens" are?

I did some research, but all I could find were articles talking about the tokens and throwing around numbers. I read there are 66 "tokens" and they have something to do with pre-season and in-season development...and for some reason, Honda can't use them yet.

Any help is appreciated.

The way I always took it was that if an F1 team want to make updates/modifications/new parts you need to spend a token to do it. It was to put some control on F1 teams going through 2 or 3 cars each weekend and make it more accessible to smaller teams.