Date: 19th March 2017 at 9:39am
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It is believed that German manufacturer Mercedes will show their true hand during the opening weekend of the 2017 Formula One World Championship.

With the new regulations for this season the power-unit token system was abolished, enabling teams to come into the new season with brand new engines.

Mercedes and Ferrari have appeared to be on somewhat of a par during the first two winter test sessions, however it is thought that due to reliability issues Mercedes may well have not used their new power-units to their full potential.

According to motorsport.com the new spec power-unit has provided 70 bhp more on the dyno in comparison to last years engine.

That performance was not evident in the Barcelona tests, due to Mercedes working through a crankshaft problem and testing trial experimental parts.

Fears that Mercedes may be conservative and not introduce the new power-unit in Australia have however been cast aside by a high-level source at Mercedes according to the same report.

This means that Mercedes, Williams and Force India will all run the new engines from the start of the new season.