Wouter wrote: ↑05 Apr 2021, 15:25
All engines were running conservatively. The engines have to last eight races this season.
Where do you read that: "The Honda is also running a bit conservatively too. But it seems the Mercedes even more so."
I don't see that anywhere in the article.
For the Honda... Tanabe hinted that they may be running too conservatively.. They will assess the engine wear and decide if they can run more power. Keep in mind Max had to turn his engine down in the race because of differential Issue but the other Honda cars did not - so Tanabe is not refering to that, but the overall strategy for all honda Power units.
For the Mercedes. Norris is saying the engines have a mapping to protect something. Notice he differentiated between ICE and ERS. This ties in with other comments from Mercedes head figures from pre-testing up to post race.
Said Norris:
"things we clearly need to work on, both from engine but also from the [power unit] side of things."