Toto Wolff in U-turn over F1 2026 regulations

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has said Formula 1 should be “open-minded” about changing the 2026 regulations, signalling a major shift in his stance on the matter.

While several manufacturers voiced concerns about 2026 power units and the impact they will have on the competition in recent months, Mercedes had been steadfast about not deterring from the path that had been agreed upon.

In particular, Wolff had branded calls for reducing the energy derived from the hybrid system from 350kW to 200kW in race trim as a “joke”, even as others remained unconvinced about the viability of a 50-50 split between power from the internal combustion engine and electric motor.

Toto Wolff U-turn on 2026 F1 regulations

However, Wolff has now tempered his views about the 2026 ruleset, as discussions continue in the background about how to converge the field next year and prevent one team from getting a run on the competition.

“Obviously, the closer you come to new regulations, the more people act – all of us – in the interest of the team, that’s their duty,” he said in Miami.

“Where we’re coming from is we don’t know how it’s going to pan out next year. Are we going to see energy harvesting disasters in Baku or Monza? I don’t know. We hope not. 

"What we’ve signalled is that rather than act now based on assumptions – like we’ve been great at in previous years and then overshot or undershot – you don’t need to throw the hardware away and come up with something new – it’s within the software and bandwidth of what you can do.

“We’ll see the final product next year in testing. As a power unit manufacturer, we want this to be a great show. We want to win, but we are also aware that in the sport there needs to be variability and unpredictability. We enjoyed the years from 2014 onwards, but over a prolonged period of time, that’s certainly not the best for the sport.

“I try to be very balanced between what is good for Mercedes, which I need to do, and what is the right solution going forward. We need to avoid these swings.

“The FIA proposed this engine; nobody liked it. The 50% electric back in the day was where road cars were going to and it was a reason to attract manufacturers like Audi and Porsche. So, we did that.

“It’s difficult to change the goalposts, especially for the new ones. Honda recommitted, and Audi committed, and including us, they are not keen on changing those goalposts at this stage. But we need to be open-minded if necessary.”

Mercedes is believed to be the best-placed manufacturer to tackle the 2026 regulations, which mark one of the biggest overhauls in the series’ history.

The German manufacturer also enjoyed unprecedented dominance when F1 last changed chassis and engine rules simultaneously in 2014, winning eight constructors' and seven drivers' titles in a row.

Red Bull, on the other hand, is believed to be on the back foot for 2026, after building an in-house power unit division from scratch with partner Ford.

Teams and manufacturers are worried that relying so heavily on electric power could risk drivers running out of energy halfway down the straights at tracks such as Monza.

To combat this, drivers may be forced to lift and coast more than usual, which could be detrimental to the show.

F1 will also be relying heavily on active aerodynamics next year, with DRS no longer serving as an overtaking aid but “used, by default, on every straight by every car to just drop your drag level on the straight line”, according to the FIA.

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner admitted to concerns about drivers having to lift off heavily at certain tracks on the calendar in 2026.

“The regulations are fixed for next year, and that’s what everybody has designed and developed their engines to,” he said.

“The biggest concern is one that is not new – it’s one that’s been flagged from two years ago by all the PUMs is the amount of harvesting there is and inevitably the chassis designers will inevitably outperform the criteria of the regulations, and a consequence of that will be the amount of lift-and-coast that there will be in a grand prix.

“You also have to remember that under the 2026 regs, the car is effectively constantly in DRS mode. As soon as you enter the straight, the wing opens. So, there’ll be no passing mechanism. The FIA have raised this topic that was looked at a little while ago again by the PUMs.

“If it’s genuinely in the interest of the sport and racing, not to have all this lifting and coasting, then I think it’s something that warrants looking at. It doesn’t change the spec or output of the engine. It’s just the amount of battery deployment maybe at certain grands prix.”