FIA boss wants F1 teams to stay out of the courtroom - here's why

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FIA

FIA boss wants F1 teams to stay out of the courtroom - here's why

The season's first controversy has arrived early

Chris Deeley

Tuesday 10 February 2026 19:00

FIA single-seater director Nikolas Tombazis has said the governing body is aiming to settle a contentious matter ahead of the new season, which gets underway next month.

As with any major rule changes, teams inevitably look for ways to exploit grey areas, and it appears Mercedes and Red Bull may have discovered a method to squeeze extra performance from their latest power units.

The two teams are believed to have identified a loophole in the regulations governing compression ratios. Although the limit has been reduced from 18.0 to 16.0, they are reportedly benefiting from the fact that checks will only be carried out when the engine is not operating at full temperature.

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Other teams have been up in arms over what they see as a deliberate circumvention of the rules, and Tombazis has now admitted that officials are spending 'a lot of time' on the issue.

FIA chief: We don't want controversies

"As these engineers are very clever and always pushing for an advantage," he said, "some have found ways to potentially increase it [the compression ratio] when the engine is running hot, and that is the discussion we're having now.

"We've spent a lot of time discussing how we solve those issues, and our intention is of course to solve them for the start of the season.

"We don't want to have controversies. We want people to be competing on the track, not in the courtroom or in the stewards' room, and that's what we try to do."

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