F1 rule change would ‘screw’ Mercedes amid Red Bull “benchmark” claim

Mercedes would be “screwed” if the FIA and F1 decide to change the rules regarding the sport’s new power units before the start of the 2026 season, Toto Wolff has admitted.

The Silver Arrows are suspected to have found a loophole in the new engine regulations that could hand them a key performance advantage over their rivals in 2026.

Mercedes are believed to have found a way to deliver a higher compression ratio limit than the rules state when their new power unit is running at full temperature. Crucially, Mercedes are said to conform to the 16:1 ratio limit when the FIA checks are carried out.

A row has erupted over the engine trick on the eve of the new campaign, with rivals Ferrari, Honda and Audi pushing for a change to the regulations.

F1’s governing body the FIA has suggested a resolution will be found before the 2026 season begins with the Australian Grand Prix on 8 March.

“I'm a little bit more confused in the recent weeks about how it came to the point now that it suddenly became a topic, because until last Friday, I was given the impression that things wouldn't change,” Wolff told reporters on the first day of pre-season testing in Bahrain.

“It's not only the teams, you need the votes from the governing body, and you need the votes from the commercial rights holder, and if they decided to share an opinion and an agenda, then you're screwed.

“I think that the kind of lobbying from the other engine manufacturers has massively ramped up over the last few months. I mean, secret meetings, secret letters to the FIA, which obviously there's no such thing as a secret at this point. And that has brought it to this situation.”

Wolff added: “You know, in this sport, it’s full of surprises, so there is never a situation where you can say you're sure about anything. All along the process, when you design an engine, you're keeping the FIA very close to the decisions you make, and that's what we did.

“And we have had all the assurances that what we did was according to the rules. It's not even like we're talking about some massive performance gain and that's what it was, but I think all of our competitors got a little bit aggrieved and lobbied the FIA for a long time.”

Wolff ruled out suggestions Mercedes could take legal action if the rules were changed.

“There is no such scenario as we would sue anyone,” he insisted. “In Formula 1, in my opinion, it is more essential than ever that you know what the rules are, but engineering ingenuity is always respected, and that's why we always respect the governance of the sport.

“If the governance of the sport decides to change the rules, be it against our position or for our position, we just have to get along with it.”

Red Bull-Ford engine “the benchmark”

Mercedes have been tipped as the overwhelming pre-season favourites for 2026 but Wolff has moved to draw attention to Red Bull’s new power unit which has been created in collaboration with Ford.

That was after Max Verstappen set the pace in his RB22 in the morning of the opening day of running at the first pre-season test in Bahrain.

"Well, I was hoping that they were worse than they are, because they have done a very good job," Wolff said. "The car, the power unit are the benchmark at the moment I would say. And then obviously you have Max in the car, that combination is strong.

"Look at the energy deployment today. They are able to deploy far more energy on the straights than everybody else. I mean, over consecutive laps.

"On a single lap we have seen it before, but now we have seen it on 10 consecutive laps with the same kind of straightline deployment. I would say that as per today, on the first official day of testing, which is always with a caveat, they have set the benchmark today."