Engine problems for Mercedes: 'We have reduced the power'

Mercedes has expressed its concerns about a problem with their engines. They speak of a "gremlin" that has caused all teams driving a Mercedes engine to reduce their power for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

As the season comes to an end, the teams' engine parts are also running to the end. We have seen several problems with Mercedes engines in recent races. Perez saw a podium finish at the Bahrain GP and George Russell also had problems with his MGU-K during practice on Friday.

So did Verstappen take his pole as a result?

It could just be that Verstappen managed to secure his first pole position of the year as a result. Toto Wolff, team boss of Mercedes, responds to the situation. "The MGU-K gives less power than it would normally give off. We don't know why yet, so that's why we've reduced the power a little on all the Mercedes engines," he says to Autosport.com.

But the Austrian team boss says that the problems Hamilton and Bottas had during qualifying weren't just on the engine. "We couldn't get the soft tyre to work for us. The gap between us and the rest of the grid is a lot smaller than we had hoped. We still don't know why, as we did well on the medium. That tyre suited us better than the softs."