Merc on track to master 'four-engine' rule

BERLIN, Germany - Mercedes is right on track to master the tough new 'four engines per driver' rule in 2015.

There had been moves recently to increase the controversial allocation to five engines but dominant Mercedes could probably make do with three turbo V6 'power units' apiece for Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.

In Monaco, the sixth race of the season, both silver-clad drivers were still using their first units of the season.

CONSTANT PROBLEMS

"Some others are already on the fourth," team chairman Niki Lauda said on German television RTL after Sunday's Monaco F1 GP. "For us it is a super achievement."

The 'some' to which he was referring was almost certainly Red Bull, which has had constant problems so far in 2015 with Renault engines.

For Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat, 10-place grid penalties for using an unallocated fifth engine are looming. Team boss Christian Horner admitted:

"I think it's inevitable that we're not going to do the rest of the season on one power unit."

For Mercedes, however, Hamilton and Rosberg will have fresh engines for the first time in June in Canada.

KEEPING SECRETS

It has also been reported that Ferrari might have new engines in Canada - perhaps as the result of having used the first International Automobile Federation performance 'tokens' for the year.

However team boss Maurizio Arrivabene said: "In Canada we will not use the tokens but do not ask me when, because I don't want the Germans (Mercedes) to know!"