TOTO WOLFF SIGNALS MERCEDES INTENT WITH RADICAL NEW 'MEGA' RULE CHANGE

Toto Wolff says Mercedes is open to a radical new set of regulations, potentially with a 1200bhp engine.

© XPBimages

Toto Wolff has signalled that Mercedes is open to the return of V8 engines to F1, as he proposed a 1,200bhp "mega engine."

Over the Miami weekend, FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem indicated that F1's next set of engine regulations would herald the return of the naturally aspirated engines for the first time since 2013, with the new cycle set to begin in 2030 or 2031.

F1's current rules had been designed to entice OEMs to enter, with Audi, Honda, General Motors, and Ford all on the grid, either as full works teams, customers, or, in Ford's case, a technical partner to Red Bull Powertrains. 

Such a move would be a drastic shift away from hybrid technology, with Wolff, a long-time supporter of the turbo hybrids open to ditching them, but as long as some form of battery power remained.

"From a Mercedes standpoint, we are open to new engine regulations," Wolff told media, including RacingNews365.

"We love V8s, it only has great memories, and from our perspective, it is a pure Mercedes engine, it revs high, and then, how do we make it?

"How do we give it enough energy from the battery side not to lose connection to the real world, because if we seing 100% combustion, we might be looking ridiculous in 2030 or 2031, so we need to consider how to make it simpler and a mega engine.

"Maybe we can extract 800 horsepower from the ICE, and then we put 400 on top of it in terms of electrical energy. We are absolutely up for it, as long as those discussions happen in a structured way, with people's considerations being taken on board.

"We recognise the financial realities of OEMs these days, we don't have it easy, but if it is well-planned and executed, count Mercedes in to come back with a real racing engine."

Join RacingNews365's Nick Golding and Samuel Coop as they look back on last weekend's Miami Grand Prix! The duo offer their thoughts on F1's rule changes in action and Max Verstappen remaining unhappy despite an exciting race.

- Ian Parkes

THE 2026 RULE CHANGE HIT MIAMI FIRST | HERE'S WHAT'S DIFFERENT THIS WEEKEND

Formula 1 didn’t wait for the off-season to fix its problems. Three races in, the FIA called an emergency meeting, got unanimous agreement from every team, and pushed through four regulation changes that take effect this weekend at the 2026 Miami Grand Prix. It’s the first race back after an unplanned five-week break due to the war in Iran, and the first big test of these regulation changes.

Here’s what changed and why it matters this weekend in Miami.

Superclipping Is Getting Reined In

This is the one fans have complained about most. Superclipping is what happens when the car harvests energy to recharge its battery while still at full throttle — meaning the driver has the pedal pinned, but the car slows down anyway. On a straight. For no visible reason. It looked strange on television and felt worse from the cockpit.

The fix: maximum permitted energy recharge per lap drops from 8 MJ to 7 MJ, while peak superclip power increases from 250 kW to 350 kW. Less time recharging, faster when it happens. In practice, drivers should spend roughly two to four seconds per lap in superclip instead of the six to eight we’ve seen through the first three rounds. Not eliminated, but meaningfully reduced.

Corner Deployment Is Now Capped

Credit: F1

The second change addresses something drivers have flagged as genuinely dangerous. When a car activates its electrical boost exiting a corner, the sudden surge in power creates extreme closing speeds on the following straight. The car behind goes from a manageable gap to near-collision territory in a fraction of a second.

The fix: power deployment outside of the main acceleration zones — corner exit to braking point — is now capped at 250 kW, with the boost limited to 150 kW above the current power level at activation. Full 350 kW is still available where it belongs. The dangerous spikes are gone.

Race Starts Have a New Detection System

Starts have been a problem all season. Under 2026 regulations, drivers must rev at high RPM for 10 seconds before lights out to spool the turbo, while simultaneously managing battery reserves from the formation lap. In fact, four-time world champion Max Verstappen has botched every start this year. He’s not alone.

The new start detection system more precisely identifies car movement off the line and tightens the deployment window at the moment the lights go out. It won’t be visible to fans watching at home, but teams will feel it immediately. If it works, the chaos that has reshuffled the order three weekends running should stabilize.

Updated Wet Weather Protocols

The least dramatic change on paper, but potentially the most relevant this weekend at the 2026 Miami Grand Prix. New rules and systems govern how power deployment changes in wet conditions. Given Sunday’s forecast of an 88% chance of rain and a 53% chance of thunderstorms, this one could matter more than any of the others.

Under U.S. law, any outdoor event must be halted if lightning is in the area — which means this race could be red-flagged even without standing water on the track. The FIA has a contingency plan ready. The updated wet-weather protocols are part of it. That includes limiting MGU-K deployment under low-grip conditions, such as rain. That means that boost mode is unavailable.

Miami is the test bed. Five weeks of work, four unanimous changes, one race weekend to find out if any of it produces better racing. Watch the first lap carefully — and keep an eye on the sky.

- Scott Gulbransen

F1 SET TO.CRUNCH MEETING OVER 2026 ENGINE LOOPHOLE CONTROVERSY

Red Bull and Mercedes are at the centre of the controversy

F1 engine manufacturers are set to meet the FIA about the developing power unit controversy on the eve of the 2026 season.

The FIA has convened a meeting with the manufacturers and engine technical experts for Thursday amid concerns about the exploitation of a loophole in the wording of the 2026 F1 regulations.

Mercedes and Red Bull are rumoured to have found a way to run their engines at a higher compression ratio than the 16:1 limit set out in the rules.

This so-called power unit trick could have both teams a key edge over their rivals and has left Ferrari, Audi and Honda unhappy.

All three manufacturers are pushing for clarity from F1’s governing body on the matter and talks are planned for Thursday.

Audi F1 chief Mattia Binotto expressed fears Mercedes could enjoy a “significant gap” at the front in 2026. 

Audi technical director James Key has called on the FIA to make the “right decisions”.

“We have to, as we do, trust the FIA with making the right decisions here,” he said at Audi’s 2026 launch event in Berlin on Tuesday night.

“It’s new regs. You’ve got to have a level playing field. If someone came up with a clever diffuser and you said it’s not the right thing to do, no one else can have it, but you can have it for the rest of the year.

“It doesn’t make sense. We’d never accept that.”

"I think if it’s sort of bypassing the intent of the regulations, then it has to be in some way controlled," Key added.

“So we trust the FIA to do that, because no one wants to sit a season out if you’ve got a blatant advantage that you can do nothing with in a homologated power unit. So I think for us, hopefully, the FIA will make the right decisions.”

WHAT IS THE SUPPOSED ENGINE TRICK?

For the forthcoming 2026 season, the compression ratio has been reduced from 18:1 to 16:1.

This is a key area as the amount of compression has an effect on the pressurisation of the air/fuel mixture and the combustion process.

Mercedes and Red Bull are accused of finding a loophole in the wording of the 2026 regulations, which states that measurements will not be taken during the working cycle.

The German manufacturer, who supply engines for four teams, and Red Bull, who now provide engines for themselves and sister team Racing Bulls, have supposedly found a way to have their power units adhere to the regulations when it is tested in stationary conditions, but critically reach a higher ratio when it is running and not subject to the checks.

It has been suggested that the potential performance gains from this trick could be as much as 10-15bhp, which equates to around 0.3-0.4 seconds per lap. 

- Lewis Larkam

SOME F1 ENGINEERS FEAR LATEST FIA FRONT WING RULE CHANGE WILL SEE 'UNDRIVABLE' LEWIS HAMILTON ISSUE RETURN

The 2025 Formula 1 season hasn’t even started yet and already there are concerns about changes being made by the FIA to this year’s ruleset.

This year represents the final campaign where all 10 teams can use their current cars before F1’s regulations are updated for 2026.

The cars are set to be lighter, new power units are being introduced and a new aerodynamics system has been developed.

This is forcing teams to split their resources between this year’s car and next year’s machines and how each team manages its workforce and budget over the upcoming few months will have long-term consequences.

Williams have may already given up on 2025, while the likes of Ferrari, McLaren, Red Bull and Mercedes will sense an opportunity to add another set of championships to their collection if they nail their updates this winter.

The FIA have just announced that a rule change will be introduced at this year’s Spanish Grand Prix that could have serious consequences for the rest of the season.

The technical directive that dictates how much each car’s front wing can flex will be adjusted, but according to a report from Autoracer, some engineers within the sport are worried it will see a return of one issue that plagued Lewis Hamilton’s final seasons at Mercedes.

F1 engineers worried 2025 front wing rule change will see porpoising return

The report suggests that the FIA have made the upcoming change to level the playing field for the rest of the campaign rather than any potential safety concerns.

However, engineers have told Autoracer that they’re worried the changes being made could see a potential return of porpoising, slowing down the cars and forcing teams to consider major floor updates to go alongside their new wings.

It’s unlikely that many team principals will want to commit that level of time and funding to a new part with just 15 races left before much of the technology developed would potentially be abandoned.

If the FIA are making this move to try and make the grid more competitive, they may only be penalising the smaller teams who don’t have the resources to develop two new wings for 2025.

Other engineers, according to Autoracer, are worried that the additional stiffness may level out performance levels across the grid, but may also take away ‘significant resources’ from the smaller teams as they develop their 2026 cars.

Lewis Hamilton’s final seasons at Mercedes were plagued with porpoising issues

If there’s one driver who won’t want to hear about the potential return of porpoising, it’s Lewis Hamilton.

His last years with Mercedes were plagued with issues that saw the car bouncing at high speeds, making it very difficult to drive.

In an interview with Sky Sports, he said: “Nothing we do to this car generally seems to work,” Hamilton recalled during the 2022 Canadian Grand Prix weekend, describing his car as ‘undrivable’ over the team radio.

“We are trying different set-ups. Me and George went with much different set-ups in this P2 just to see if one way works and one way doesn’t.

“I’ll wait to hear how it felt for him, but for me, it was a disaster. It’s like the car is getting worse, it’s getting more and more unhappy the more we do to it.”

Ferrari will be well aware that they can’t afford to make the same mistakes as Hamilton’s previous employers.

It could create an additional twist to a season that’s already expected to be even closer than last year.

- Ben Evans