Victory for Ferrari, Honda and Audi – Red Bull decisive
The battle lines for this dispute have been relatively clear until now. On one side is Mercedes, who have resolutely defended the legality of their power unit.
Only last week, Toto Wolff accused rivals of organising “secret meetings” to undermine his team’s power unit. The passion behind Wolff’s comments highlight the scale and seriousness of this issue.
Moreover, his words could be interpreted as a sign of genuine concern that the Mercedes engine could be compromised.
As previously reported here on LWOS, Mercedes are ready to escalate on this issue. Should the teams vote in favour of this new methodology, thereby hurting the German power unit, there could be swift retaliation from the Brackley-based outfit.
Although nothing is clear at this stage, there is definitely reason to watch this space.
Elsewhere, there has been consistent opposition from Ferrari, Honda and Audi. These manufacturers have been adamant that the Mercedes engine trick is not compliant with the regulations.
During their 2026 launches, all three engine suppliers (albeit to varying degrees) hinted at their expectation in reaching a satisfactory resolution with the FIA.
However, the wild card in this saga has been Red Bull. The Austrian squad is expected to vote in favour of the proposed change to measure compression ratios at high temperatures.
Should Red Bull follow through, it would mean 4/5 manufacturers (a qualified majority) can officially facilitate this regulatory adjustment.
Red Bull have also been developing this compression ratio trick. They reportedly learned of this solution from an engineer they signed from Mercedes to their new powertrains department.
With that said, Laurent Mekies’ team are several steps behind the Silver Arrows in developing this idea.
As a result, Red Bull would lose relatively little if this loophole is addressed. Of course, voting in favour would hurt Mercedes in the process.
Main photo: Jiri Krenek (Mercedes F1 Media Archive)
