Mercedes confirms updated spec power unit for France

Mercedes has confirmed that all six of its Formula 1 power units at this weekend's French Grand Prix are its latest specification that had been due in Canada earlier this month, acting as a boost to Lewis Hamilton's title battle against Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel.

Mercedes had intended to introduce its updated power unit to both its factory team and its customers - Williams and Force India - in Canada when Renault, Ferrari and Honda all introduced their new specification engines, only for it to be delayed due to a quality issue.

It was confirmed ahead of Friday practice at Paul Ricard that all of the Mercedes, Williams, and Force India cars had received fresh power units ahead of the race weekend, with the German manufacturer later making official that they are the updated specification with some "added goodness" beyond what was planned for Canada.

"All six Mercedes-powered cars were fitted with fresh ICE, Turbocharger and MGU-H for this weekend. Those new components are of an upgraded specification which contains reliability and performance updates," a Mercedes spokesperson confirmed.

"While we would have had a Phase 2 in Cnaada, this is a Phase 2.1 with some 'added goodness' thanks to a fantastic effort by the team in Brixworth. Since Canada, they have reworked six race units plus spares, all of which are on site.

"We plan to continue running these PUs for the rest of the race weekend."

Mercedes works driver Hamilton was left on the backfoot compared to his Ferrari and Renault-powered rivals in Canada, struggling to a fifth-place finish in the race as Sebastian Vettel moved back into the drivers' championship lead with a comfortable victory.

Hamilton impressed for Mercedes through practice on Friday at Paul Ricard, leading both FP1 and FP2 with an advantage of seven-tenths of a second come the end of the day.