Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff has expressed his disapproval of the discussions surrounding potential changes to the 2026 Formula 1 engine regulations.
A proposal has been put forward for next week’s F1 Commission meeting, where discussions will be held with the teams over a prospective solution to the concerns that cars could repeatedly run out of energy next year.
For 2026, there will be a 50/50 power split between the internal combustion engine and battery.
However, a few F1 teams are concerned that the new turbo hybrid power units will not harvest enough energy to allow for sufficient battery deployment.
This could, therefore, result in the drivers running out of energy down the pit straights at tracks like Monza, where there is a significant reliance on power.
Others are less concerned, but the FIA is set to investigate the matter further and will put forward the major changes at the upcoming meeting.
The boss of Silver Arrows reacted hysterically to the news, discussing the matter ahead of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on Sunday.
“Reading the agenda of the F1 commission is almost as hilarious as reading some of the comments that I see on Twitter on American politics,” Wolff said.
“I really want to protect ourselves and make no comment – but it’s a joke.
“A week ago, there’s an engine meeting [on Friday in Bahrain], and [now] things like this end up on the agenda again.”
Stella calls for F1 teams to ‘put common interest before our own’
McLaren, a Mercedes customer, seems more willing to accept changes for the benefit of the sport.
Team Principal Andrea Stella shared his verdict on the situation, as he stated that F1 stakeholders must preserve “the quality of the spectacle”.
“Well, my opinion is very clear, the principle I want to state very strongly is that it’s the responsibility of all the stakeholders to make sure that the 2026 regulations are successful,” he explained.
“Because there’s no point in teams competing with each other if we don’t have a good sport, and the quality of the sport, the quality of the spectacle, the quality of the racing is a function of the product from a chassis and power unit point of view.
“So I think keeping the conversation open, such that we really go into the details, considering overtaking, considering power deployment, considering power harvesting – everything that determines the quality of the product, therefore the spectacle, therefore the health of the business, we should look into that and we shouldn’t say it’s frozen.
“I think we need to have this open mind, keep working on that.
“Obviously, these adjustments don’t have to be structural; we’re not going to change the hardware.
“But if there’s minor changes that we need to apply in the way we use the hardware, and this improves these characteristics, which I said, then I think this is part of the responsibilities of all the stakeholders.
“When I say ‘the stakeholders’, it’s F1, the FIA and the teams.
“I think we need to put the common interest before our own.”
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