Mercedes has confirmed it has drawn inspiration and lessons from the 2014 Formula 1 power unit regulations to develop its 2026 engine, amid rumours it will lead the field in 2026.
The close of the 2025 season, Mercedes ended the previous engine cycle as the most successful team, its best achievements seen between 2014 to 2020.
The Silver Arrows started preparation for the rule changes before its rivals, leading to unrivalled domination in the opening seasons of the turbo hybrid era.
As preparations continue for the all-new power unit in 2026 featuring a 50:50 split between internal combustion and electrical power, Mercedes has revealed details of its new power unit.
Mercedes High Performance Powertrains (HPP) Managing Director Hywel Thomas, is hopeful the team can hit the ground running at pre-season testing.
“I think it’s enough for our preparation,” he said of the length of testing on the Beyond the Grid podcast.
“There’s been a lot of investment over the years in dynos, in the way that we run in the factory, even virtual running, and to get yourself prepared.
“Getting that first test will be important to shake it all down, because there’s so much interaction, so much new… car, tyres, everything. So I think that’s probably long enough to keep us going.
“The pecking order, we never think we’ve got enough power, we never think we’ve got reliability, and we never think we’re the best at putting that down on the track.
“If you always think you’re a bit behind and you’re always pushing to get that extra bit, I don’t think that’s a bad thing.”
Mercedes ahead of its rivals?
Thomas would not be drawn on the rumours that Mercdees has stolen a march on its rivals, stating: “Quite frankly, I don’t know how much power we’re going to get to the first race, so God knows how the rest of the paddock knows what we’re getting there!”
But questioned if all-out domination was possible from an engine supplier, Thomas hinted Mercedes’ rivals may have found an advantage.
“Always possible. Definitely always possible,” he confirmed.
“Although the regulation set was put together in a way to try to avoid that.
“So there are some constraints on there that do constrain you to certain ways of doing things. So if that’s gone well, it’s less likely that someone’s going to steal a march.
“But who’s to say someone hasn’t found a loophole, hasn’t found the amazing thing that nobody else has?”
A glimpse of Mercedes’ technical journey
Revealing details behind the development of the new power unit, Thomas said, learnings from 2014 had been applied to its 2026 challenger, outlining key elements for success.
“I think the project was very much of our own building,” he said.
“The elements all existed, so you’re talking about putting incredible stretch targets on yourself and taking some leaps and doing that.
“But it was all created by ourselves. It wasn’t unlike the fuel, where the sport’s gone, ‘You’ve got to do this’.
“For us, it was more, ‘How are we going to pull this together? What should our part targets be, and where should we be investing our cash?’
“Because, at the same time, we’ve been added into a PU cost cap, so that’s another competitive element that all of a sudden appears.
“Where advantages come from, I think there are probably three elements, I’d say. Crank power is always going to be. We love crank power, and that’s going to be one of them.
“The efficiency of the electrical system, the more efficient you are with your electrical system, the more time you’re going to be able to keep it on, which means you’re going quicker.
“But I think the third element is, how does it all work together? How do you make that work together? How do you transiently get, use all that energy? How do you transiently use the power? How do you interact with the car, a completely new car?
“How do you interact with the driver? The driver is going to be able to do one straight incredibly quickly, if they really want to, but they’ll be knackered for the rest of the lap, so they can’t do that even if they want to.
“So that strategic element and working out where you use all of this, I think, is that there’s a big part of that too.”
Inventing today’s standards
Thomas also explained the technical revolution that underpinned its efforts to develop its all-conquering 2014 power unit, confirming it invented elements of today’s engines.
“I remember back to when we were first talking about those regulations around 2012/2013, you looked at it, and you thought, ‘Oh, my God, there’s stuff in here that we’re genuinely inventing’,”he said.
“That electric turbo, running an electric motor at over 100,000 rpm, these things just didn’t exist, and we were having to invent that stuff. What a push and what an incredible project. Plenty of dips in the road, but that was incredibly difficult from a hardware point of view.
Thomas believes the split between electrical power and combustion will require careful management from both teams and drivers as the sport grapples with the changes.
“I think this 2026 regulation set, any element within it, you can take a battery, we can take the electric motor of 350 kilowatts, they exist.
“Okay, they don’t exist in an F1 framework. They don’t exist in the right size, the right shape, but they do exist. So, in that way, this regulation set doesn’t feel as big.
“But what is going to definitely change with this regulation set is the interaction with the driver. Because of the electrical aspects of it, we are generally going to be slightly energy-limited.
“So it’s going to be working with the driver to make sure they’ve got the right energy at the right time to defend, to attack, to go as quickly as they can.
“It’s definitely going to need some real thought from the driver and from the engineers around them to understand how to go racing and how to do this the right way. I think that is a bigger challenge than the one we faced in a similar area around 2013/2014.”
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