McLaren could beat Mercedes in 2026, too – Wolff

Jan.29 (GMM) Although Mercedes could get the jump on all other rivals in 2026, Toto Wolff insists that wouldn’t necessarily put the works team at the very top.

Adrian Newey told Auto Motor und Sport this week that there is a “strong possibility” that Formula 1 will become “an engine-dominated formula” at least initially when the rules change next year.

That could partly explain why, amid the leadership turmoil at Red Bull last year, the 66-year-old decided to leave – as the outfit is losing its works Honda power to Aston Martin while Red Bull builds its own power units in collaboration with Ford.

“Ferrari has 75 years of experience making engines and Mercedes has 30 with HPP (High Performance Powertrains),” said Red Bull team boss Christian Horner recently.

“The mountain we have to climb is huge.”

The last time the engine regulations were revolutionised, with the move from naturally-aspirated V8s to the current hybrid ‘power units’ for 2014, Mercedes and its works team utterly dominated the next seven world championships.

It’s no surprise, then, that team boss Wolff says he’s “not worried” about the 2026 revolution.

“It’s a really interesting challenge,” he said. “You have to do your job as well as possible on all levels.”

However, unlike 2014, this time the chassis regulations are changing arguably just as radically.

“A good engine alone is no use to us,” Wolff agrees. “Because McLaren has that too.”

Indeed, McLaren won the constructors’ world championship in 2024, with Mercedes merely fourth. “There are no longer any disadvantages since the FIA standardised the engine maps for all teams of a manufacturer,” McLaren CEO Zak Brown explains.

“The engine that (Lewis) Hamilton used was no better than Lando (Norris)’s,” he added. “The factory team only has one advantage – they know the engine data earlier.

“That gives them a small head start when it comes to packaging the components.”

Wolff agrees that the works Mercedes team will not have a big advantage if the new engine proves dominant. “We’d then have to beat them with the chassis,” said the Austrian.

“We have nowhere to hide.”