Mercedes has spent its remaining seven engine development tokens ahead of the Italian Grand Prix.
All four engine manufacturers started the season with power unit development tokens they had not used during the winter. Its huge advantage this year has allowed Mercedes to save all seven it had at the start of the season, while Ferrari and Honda first spent tokens ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix.
While others have used token spend to improve their fortunes in the current campaign, Mercedes says the seven tokens have been spent "tactically" to aid with 2016 power unit development. The team hopes the token spend will help them learn about fuel efficiency, unlock more performance and make further improvements on reliability for next season.
The upgrade means both Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, who are both yet to suffer a reliability retirement this season, move onto their third power unit of the campaign.
Our drivers will take their third Power Units of the season and it will be a new spec using our remaining 7 development tokens (2/4) #F1
— MERCEDES AMG F1 (@MercedesAMGF1) September 3, 2015We've tactically pulled forward planned 2016 development to learn about a new spec of @PET_Motorsports fuel out on track! (3/4) #F1
— MERCEDES AMG F1 (@MercedesAMGF1) September 3, 2015The goal? A dash of R&D exploring a new development direction to unlock more performance for the whole #MBFamily in 2016! (4/4) #F1
— MERCEDES AMG F1 (@MercedesAMGF1) September 3, 2015Mercedes' upgrade means the remaining engine tokens are Honda (4), Ferrari (10) and Renault (12). Honda started the season with the average of tokens not spent by its rivals during the winter.