Former Mercedes power unit guru Andy Cowell has questioned the alleged power unit advantage the Silver Arrows holds over its competitors ahead of the new Formula 1 season.
Cowell oversaw the highly successful Mercedes High Performance Powertrains division during its dominant 2014 to 2021 era, resulting in eight consecutive constructor titles.
Now at Aston Martin, the Briton is ideally placed to comment on the first subject of controversy in 2026 – engine compression rations.
Mercedes is rumoured to have exploited a loophole in the regulations that has unlocked a potential three tenths of a second per lap, a handy advantage on race-day.
This has been achieved by extracting a ratio of 18:1, compared to the permitted ration of 16:1, though this only applies to the pit lane.
Cowell believes that the controversy is simply part of modern day F1, an example of subject of discussion and debate.
“The topic of compression ratio, there’s always a topic that bubbles up when new regulations come into place,” said Cowell at Honda’s 2026 power unit launch.
Mercedes pushing “performance to the limit”
Sympathetic to Mercedes’ intentions, Cowell threw his support behind the Silver Arrows innovating, but warned the FIA will monitor the results.
“And every competitor reads the regulations and pushes performance to the limit.
“Compression ratio is clearly a key thermal efficiency enabling aspect of an internal combustion engine, so you always push it to the limit.
“I’m sure every single power unit manufacturer is doing that. The FIA have the job to make sure that everybody interprets the regulations in a fair and equal way.”
Mercedes completed their shakedown of the W17 at Silverstone, covering 200km on a filming day following the launch of their car via digital renders.
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