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Cape Town - Mercedes engine boss Andy Cowell has revealed the Silver Arrows are close to producing a power unit capable of a 1000bhp output.
Mercedes have been able to maintain their dominance throughout the turbo hybrid engine era, even after new aerodynamic regulations were introduced for the 2017 season.
The World Champions are looking to tame the 'diva' characteristics from the Mercedes W08 ahead of the 2018 campaign, but strong progress continues to be made on their engine development.
"We're close," Cowell told Motorsport.com. "I'm sure that'll happen at some point."
"It's an answer for the early part of the next year.
"We need to see how the power unit development goes through the winter and our prove-out goes through the winter, and it's a balance with the car as well. There are engines running on the dyno - that's one thing.
"When you go to total car lap time, that's the bit where there's work being done to improve the technology on the car to enhance both aerodynamic and power unit performance.
"Let's see how it all works out."
Pirelli are also predicting that cars will be two seconds quicker by the end of next season due to the new range of softer compound tyres that will be introduced.
