‘Very clever’ Mercedes tactic uncovered in ‘exceptional’ F1 2026 power unit update

Mercedes are doing an “exceptional” job with their F1 2026 power unit, which has included the “very clever” tactic of investing earlier and in different places compared to rivals.

That is the claim of Williams team principal James Vowles, the Grove outfit continuing their use of the Mercedes engine into the new era, as revamped chassis and power unit regulations arrive in time for the F1 2026 campaign.

‘Very clever’ Mercedes doing ‘exceptional’ F1 2026 power unit work

The last time that Formula 1 re-wrote the engine regulations was back in 2014 when the naturally-aspirated engines made way for V6 turbo-hybrid power units, Mercedes coming storming out of the blocks with the best creation.

And Vowles believes that Mercedes are very much on the right path again for this engine regulatory reset, even if he does not think that the gaps between manufacturers will be as large this time around compared to 2014.

“I think Mercedes have done an exceptional job, which is why I was very happy to re-sign back up for an extension to it,” said Vowles on the Beyond the Grid podcast .

“And I think you’re going to see differences between power units that do not exist today.

“Today, pretty much all the power units are much from muchness. I think that will change in ’26 and you’ll see a difference between the power units. I just don’t think it’ll be the levels you saw in 2014 where there was such a wide spread between the field.”

F1 2024 has brought the convergence of the front-running teams after the switch to ground effect aerodynamics in 2022, with seven different winners crowned so far this season, so Vowles was asked why he expects gaps to widen come F1 2026? After all, it was put to him that ditching the MGU-H element simplifies the engines, and increasing the electrical power is just doing more of what the manufacturers do already.

“It’s true that if you simplified it, it’s more of what we’re already doing,” he replied, “but, it’s a completely [different] design of what you’re doing in an electrical world and how you’re extracting the most performance from your ICE [internal combustion engine] is again, different.”

And this is where he believes Mercedes has gone about things in a “very clever” way.

“So it’s opportunity,” Vowles continued.

“And in the case of Mercedes, they’ve been very clever in investing earlier than others, and including in different technologies.”

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On the internal combustion engine side, the F1 2026 regulations will feature a switch to using fully sustainable biofuels, so Vowles was asked if he thinks this will be the biggest factor at play with these new power units.

“No, not the biggest factor,” he responded. “I think there will be a factor, for sure, but not the biggest factor.

“I think, by the way, sustainable fuels, it’s a brilliant idea. It’s a way for the world to think about how the future can evolve that’s different to what we considered beforehand.

“I think there’ll be performance differences, but not as large as how the power units are different to each other.”

McLaren will join Williams in being a Mercedes F1 2026 engine customer, while Alpine are widely expected to also take on the Mercedes PU, after scheduled supplier Renault pulled the plug on their F1 2026 power unit project.

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