'Mercedes had in qualifying mode 1022 horsepower with the W11'
F1 News
- GPblog.com
The dominance of Mercedes is evident in 2020. The team leaves no stone unturned from the competition and that is also evident from the number of horsepower the engine knows how to produce. According to Motorsport.com the W11 taps no less than 1022 HP in qualifying mode.
During qualifying for the British Grand Prix it became very clear that Mercedes is tapping from a different barrel than the other teams. In Q3 the team managed to make a gap of more than a second compared to the second fastest team over one lap.
According to Motorsport.com, that's not very surprising. The publication has done measurements on the Silverstone circuit, which shows that the W11 has no less than 1022 HP in qualifying mode. Lewis Hamilton had that power at his disposal in the final phase of qualifying, while Valtteri Bottas could use 1020 HP according to the measurements. This makes the Mercedes engine more powerful than last year, unlike the engines of the competition.
Ferrari lags the most behind
Honda is closest to Mercedes when it comes to pure power. The engine manufacturer is 28 HP behind. Renault now lags 37 HP, while Ferrari has 42 less HP to use than Mercedes.
According to Motorsport.com, the team has achieved that power through a new petrol approved for Spielberg and a different strategy when it comes to the hybrid engine. Together these two elements should create a "surprising mix". In telemetry, the FIA has not seen anything suspicious, but if it continues like this it will be a matter of time before other teams will protest against Mercedes.