Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko says Mercedes have brought updates to their engine, which would be against Formula 1's power unit regulations. New for 2021 is the inability to develop your power unit during the season. Mercedes appeared to have strong straight line speed at Silverstone and the Hungaroring which has surprised Red Bull considering the strength of the Honda power unit during the triple-header in Austria and France. "They have not only brought updates to the car, but also to the engine," Marko told F1-Insider. "That's why they've been so fast again on the straight since Silverstone." Earlier this week, Germany's Auto Motor und Sport reported a theory that a technical directive from the FIA had been issued in private to Honda, following the introduction of their second power units of the season for the French Grand Prix. The technical directive was suggested to have forced Honda to run with different energy deployment settings, with Honda openly explaining that their energy management has been an area of vast improvement this season. When asked by RacingNews365.com , Honda denied that there was any validity to the theory and pointed out that technical directives, while not in the public domain, are issued by the FIA to all teams. This would imply that such a directive wouldn't remain private for long. Marko has confirmed Red Bull have ran with the same power at every race since using their second power unit of the season. "This is total nonsense," said Marko. "There were no restrictions, neither from the FIA nor from Honda itself. We didn't have to turn back the engine. We also drove in Hungary with the same power as before."
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