Last Updated on January 23 2026, 5:26 pm

Today sees the hastily organised meeting of the FIA and the Formula One power unit manufacturers following complaints from Honda, Audi and Ferrari that Mercedes and to a certain degree Red Bull are in breach of the technical regulations.

Reports began to emerge before Christmas that Mercedes have developed heat sensitive components which when the car is up to temperature mean the internal combustion engine’s compression rate exceeds the maximum set out by the FIA.

The FIA have clarified their compression tests will operate with the car stationary and at ambient temperature, which means the W17 will pass the test even though when on track the Mercedes powertrain will enjoy an increased compression ratio above the 16.1 the FIA has stipulated.

 

 

Mercedes design agreed by the FIA

Red Bull too are said to have developed a similar technology having recruited an PU engineer from Mercedes High Performance Powertrains early last season. The performance advantage gained from this exploitation of a grey area in the regulations is estimated at between 0.25-0.4 seconds a lap.

As the all new power units begin to fire up in anger, there are concerns that Ferrari in particular will be significantly off the pace come the first race weekend in Melbourne. Certain Italian publications are suggesting the famous red team could even be battling towards the lower end of the grid.

The objections being made by Mercedes rivals appears to be in vain before the meeting even came to order, given the modern process by which teams design and build their F1 racing prototypes. Gone are the days when the FIA was scrabbling around in parc ferme in an attempt to uncover the details of each teams work, now the manufacturers work closely with the FIA during their design and testing processes.

It appears Mercedes have throughout the design of their new V6 Turbo hybrid been in close contact with the FIA, offering technical drawings and asking for clarification of the legality of their work at each step along the way.

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Lead times for PU upgrades is huge

This means any protests by Ferrari et al in Melbourne will fall upon deaf ears in the FIA motorhome, so what is the point of today’s meeting between the FIA and the manufacturers? In all likelihood the purpose of the gathering will be to accelerate the FIA’s catch up mechanism designed to ensure one team does not bake in an advantage that becomes insurmountable for the rest of the field.

Power unit development in Formula One is very different from the mechanical and aerodynamic work the teams undertake during the course of a season due to the lead times required to make changes to the engines. Red Bull’s ‘magic’ Monza floor was in design when Christian Horner was sacked as team boss following the British Grand Prix.

The lead times for such upgrades are typically 6-8 weeks. For a power unit it takes much longer – up to 12 weeks according to Red Bull’s technical director of powertrains, Ben Hodgkinson. Then unlike aero and mechanical upgrades which get bolted onto the car for a practice session or two, the redesigned PU will undergo extensive bench testing which again can take up to 12 weeks.

Then for a team like Mercedes who have three customer teams and 8 cars in total to supply with a power unit, the FIA has mandated all upgrades to the PU’s must be complete for each customer at the same time it is deployed by the manufactures works team. This again is another several weeks work before the pool of PU’s have been upgraded in an identical fashion.

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Catch up mechanism to be deployed

The FIA’s catch up mechanism for 2026 is known as ADUO (Additional development & upgrade opportunities) and is there to allow manufacturers who fall behind in performance to catch up, in an effort to prevent a repeat of Mercedes dominance in 2014.

Across the first six race weekends, the FIA will measure the output of the various PU’s and should any suffer more than a 3% deficit of power to the leading unit, they will be afforded extra resources to catch up. The problem for Audi et al is the sixth weekend of the 2026 is the Miami Grand Prix held on the 2nd-4th of May.

Today’s meeting has two aims. Audi, Honda and Ferrari believe the FIA can regulate the compression tests in a more accurate manner that includes when the cars are running hot on track. By fitting a sensor inside the combustion chamber, F1’s governing body could receive live readings of the compression rates whenever the cars are on track.

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FIA new sensor but for 2027

However, of course agreement is unlikely and the FIA cannot act unilaterally this late in the day and requires the votes of all but one of the manufacturers to enforce such a change. The earliest the FIA can mandate for such a sensor would be for 2027.

As of yet, the FIA have failed to confirm whether Mercedes’ PU design does exploit the compression loophole, but today may be the time when they are forced to come clean. The other teams will request the ADUO process be allowed to begin immediately, rather than wait until the Miami Grand Prix.

This would give Ferrari, Audi and Honda an extra 14 weeks to begin their catchup redesigns, meaning the revised PU’s could be in action by the end of the European racing season. Does this mean Ferrari’s season is doomed before its even begun?

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Bigger deficits expected in 2026 anyway

Fortunately given the huge changes in the chassis and aerodynamic component regulations, such as performance defect on the power unit may not be as great as would have been the case in 2025. 

Energy management will be the key to winning in the new F1 formula and deficits of half a second a lap are easily predictable as the teams and drivers get up to speed on how to optimise the electrical output from the powertrains.

2026 will be a season of learning for everyone, but come 2027 the FIA will surely implement a monitoring system to ensure compression rates in the internal combustion engine remain below their mandated threshold.

 

 

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