Toto Wolff has pointed out that McLaren leaves Mercedes nowhere to “hide” during the 2026 Formula 1 season.
McLaren is riding high in F1 after attaining its first Constructors’ title in 26 years last campaign.
Mercedes provided McLaren with power units and struggled in comparison to its customer team, scoring 198 fewer points in 2024.
The Brackley-based outfit is hedging its bets for the 2026 rules reset in F1, which includes changes to the power unit regulations.
Mercedes is boastful that its forthcoming power unit could be a class leader, but supplying to McLaren has Wolff wary.
Asked by Auto Motor und Sport if the prospect of the 2026 rule change is giving him a “stomach ache,” Wolff said: “I don’t have a stomach ache.
“[2026 is] a super interesting challenge,” he added.
“You have to do your job as well as possible at all levels.
“A good engine alone won’t get us anywhere. McLaren will have that.
“Then we have to beat them with the chassis. We can’t hide anywhere.”
Mercedes stole a march on the F1 field when hybrid engines were introduced in 2014 and also had the measure of customer teams Williams, McLaren and Force India.
However, times have changed and the McLaren entity at present is far stronger than 11 years ago.
Upon McLaren winning the Constructors’ title last year, Wolff was positive, claiming it gives Mercedes a strong target to chase.
Asked post-race in Abu Dhabi last month how he was balancing satisfaction and disappointment in being beaten by a customer team, Wolff said: “If we can’t win as a works team I’d much rather be beaten by a customer team.
“I have zero problem with that, it shows us where the benchmark is.”
Mercedes looking for history to repeat itself with 2026 engine
The noise surrounding Mercedes’ 2026 power unit has been largely positive.
That is the sentiment from ed Kravitz, who claims expectations of 2026 at Mercedes match 2014.
“[Mercedes is] having the same kind of feelings about the 2026 power unit, which is so different, as they had about the 2014 power unit,” he said on the Sky F1 podcast.
“As Wolff and James Allison say out of Brixworth, the noise is that they’re feeling the same kind of gains that they had when they swept the board under a new power unit regulation in 2014 as they will for 2026.”
Still, Wolff has been coy on the subject, saying: “Certain expectations we’re meeting, that’s good.
“Others, we’re still pushing to achieve our targets,” he added.
“It’s not trivial. But then the question is, have you set your expectations in the right way? So the answer is, we don’t know where we are.”
READ MORE – Why Toto Wolff regards McLaren F1 title ‘a success for Mercedes’
