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Neither Valtteri Bottas nor Lewis Hamilton knew that Mercedes had shut down its engines in Abu Dhabi, saying Max Verstappen was faster.
Verstappen had the upper hand over the Mercedes drivers in the final grand prix of the season, taking his first pole position of 2020 and then with a race win.
He crossed the line nearly 16 seconds ahead of Bottas with Hamilton two and a half behind.
Motorsport chief Toto Wolff revealed that Mercedes’ limited pace was due to the team having to reject the MGU-K element from the engine due to reliability issues.
“We took a little power, a little performance from all the Mercedes engines,” Wolff told Motorsport-Total.com.
“We have a gremlin there. Damage to the MGU-K occurred below the mileage it is normally supposed to last. And we still don’t understand exactly why. “
However, drivers have played down the Austrian’s comments, saying they were unaware that their engines were off power.
“Honestly, I didn’t know the engine was off,” Bottas said.
“I really can’t say much. I don’t know if it was how much it was. Then I do not know.
“Red Bull was obviously faster and, for the first time this year, they have such a difference in race pace against us, so … not much more to say.”
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His teammate Lewis Hamilton didn’t know either.
“The same actually,” he said. “I don’t… naturally, when we come back now we will ask about that because I was not aware, personally.
“I arrived on Thursday night, so I think HPP and Mercedes have done an incredible job this year for us. You like my reliability, for example, it has been … managed to finish every race, so it was really fantastic, but there have been problems with other engines that Mercedes has made, for example for the Force India and the Williams, so it’s not … we definitely have work to do
“If they’ve done anything it sure would make sense and I’m thankful we’re done now and we’re not going to use the motors anyway so … they were good enough that we could make donuts!”
When Verstappen revealed that he had read that the Mercedes engines were off, both Hamilton and Bottas expressed surprise.
MV: I also read that they had to turn off the engines a bit, so that doesn’t help them.
LH: What is that about the motor?
MV: The MGU-UK.
LH: We?
MV: Yes, is that what they said?
LH: Is that true? I don’t think that is the case.
VB: Maybe it is, but we don’t know.
MV: Maybe they just don’t want to tell you!
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