Mercedes still opposed to 2026 engine rules tweaks
Jun.17 (GMM) Toto Wolff is staunchly opposed to making any tweaks whatsoever to the 2026 engine rules.
After the FIA released the blueprint for the next set of chassis regulations in Montreal, teams and drivers insisted it was just a “draft”. They also expressed grave concerns about the radical chassis innovations required to compensate for the radically-high proportion of electric energy.
F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali admits the compromise solution is not ideal ahead of the final deadline for the 2026 rules on June 30.
“When the (engine) rules were written, the political climate was different,” he is quoted by Auto Motor und Sport.
“Without hybrid, we would not have attracted new manufacturers and would have lost established ones.”
Some believe that whether a team or manufacturer supports tweaks to the power unit regulations depends on how they are handling the current development phase.
“There are teams that feel like they are already lagging behind, and others believe that they have done a good job,” admitted Mercedes boss Toto Wolff.
“That’s quite normal when you’re dealing with new regulations.”
Unsurprisingly, given Mercedes’ track record, Wolff sounds confident the existing regulations are a good opportunity to hit the ground running in 2026 with a very strong power unit.
“If adjustments are necessary, I am confident the engine manufacturers will cooperate,” said the FIA’s single seater director Nikolas Tombazis.
Wolff, however, is quoted by Speed Week as saying: “On the power unit side, the train has left the station.
“Improvements can and must still be made on the chassis side, but the process has already progressed too far with the engine.”
Alpine (Renault) boss Bruno Famin also sounds reluctant to negotiate.
“We have to be careful because we have already put two years of work into the power unit.”
Christian Horner, however – overseeing Red Bull’s bold and risky move of starting its own power unit subsidiary for 2026 in collaboration with Ford – insists that the FIA will ultimately decide.
“There will always be teams that don’t want to change anything,” the team boss said. “But the FIA decides. They have the knowledge and they run the simulations.”
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