Although Mercedes is expected to have a strong position in the all-new 2026 Formula 1 regulations, team boss Toto Wolff insists that won't necessarily put the Silver Arrows at the top of the grid.
Adrian Newey stated this week in Auto Motor und Sport that there is a "strong possibility" the new F1 era will be "an engine-dominated formula," at least in the early stages of the regulations.
That expectation could explain why Newey opted to leave Red Bull last year amid the team's leadership turmoil. Red Bull is set to lose its works Honda power to Aston Martin in 2026 while also embarking on its own power unit project in collaboration with Ford.
"Ferrari has 75 years of experience making engines and Mercedes has 30 with HPP (High Performance Powertrains)," Red Bull boss Christian Horner recently noted. "The mountain we have to climb is huge."
The last major engine regulation overhaul, the switch from naturally aspirated V8s to hybrid power units in 2014, saw Mercedes dominate the sport for seven consecutive seasons.
Unsurprisingly, Wolff is confident about the upcoming 2026 transition.
"I'm not worried," he said. "It's a really interesting challenge. You have to do your job as well as possible on all levels."
However, unlike in 2014, this time the chassis regulations will undergo a fundamental transformation alongside the engine changes.
"A good engine alone is no use to us," Wolff acknowledged.
"Because McLaren has that too."
McLaren, which won the constructors' championship in 2024, has shown it can challenge Mercedes despite using the same power unit. With the FIA standardising engine maps across all teams using the same manufacturer's power unit, McLaren CEO Zak Brown believes Mercedes no longer holds a technical advantage.
"The engine that (Lewis) Hamilton used was no better than Lando (Norris)'s," Brown said. "The factory team only has one advantage - they know the engine data earlier. That gives them a small head start when it comes to packaging the components."
Wolff agrees that if Mercedes builds the best 2026 engine, it won't automatically put the works team ahead.
"We'd then have to beat them with the chassis," he admitted. "We have nowhere to hide.
