New FIA rule can stop Mercedes F1 engine dominance

Sky Sports F1 pundit Ted Kravitz has revealed a new FIA rule that may just prevent Mercedes from dominating in 2026.

The 2026 season is seeing wholesale regulation changes, both on the aerodynamic car design side of things, and when it comes to power units.

Mercedes are understood to be best placed to master the new regulations, particularly when it comes to the new power units, after a clever 'trick' that they have discovered was confirmed to be legal by F1's governing body last week.

What's more, the first pre-season testing event in Barcelona this week has seen the Brackley-based outfit completing over 350 laps without suffering with reliability issues - although this is only reported given the shakedown in Barcelona is a private event.

While pre-season testing should never be relied upon for determining the competitive order for the season ahead, Mercedes do appear to be in good shape, and they have history of being the dominant team immediately after a regulations reset, with 2014 the last time we had rule changes to power units and aerodynamic design.

Now, Kravitz has revealed that Mercedes' power unit being the best once we get to Australia may not mean season-long domination, however, with new FIA rules allowing the opportunity for the four other power unit manufacturers to catch up.

"This is a thought I had on the tube on the way into the office, I have many thoughts on the tube on the way into the office," Kravitz said on Sky Sports F1's testing highlights show.

"This year there is an element of ‘if you don’t get it right first time the FIA are allowing the power units to improve throughout the year’ it’s called ADUO (additional development and upgrade opportunities).

"What it effectively means is that if the likes of Audi or Ferrari or Honda or whoever, don’t get it right they can improve their power units throughout the year, whereas in previous years they have been locked in, frozen you might say, and they haven’t been allowed to do any improvements.

"If you were Mercedes, would you then be sandbagging an awful lot not to show your hand too soon and therefore not allow some of this balance of power adjustment from your rivals to try and lift you up?"

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Who are the five power unit suppliers in F1, and which teams do they supply?

Mercedes' rumoured power unit dominance over the rest of the field could help the works Mercedes team, McLaren, Williams and Alpine, with those four teams all having a Mercedes power unit in them.

Audi are joining the grid this year as both a power unit manufacturer and team, while Honda will supply Aston Martin having ended their relationship with Red Bull.

Red Bull themselves are starting a new era of power unit production, supplying themselves and Racing Bulls with engines in partnership with Ford.

The fifth power unit manufacturer in 2026 are, of course, Ferrari, who will be supplying the Ferrari works team, Haas, and Cadillac before their power unit partnership with General Motors begins in 2028.

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