{"id":372409,"date":"2025-12-26T06:06:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-26T06:06:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/372409\/"},"modified":"2025-12-26T06:06:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-26T06:06:10","slug":"f1-2026-doesnt-give-wolff-the-domination-vibes-2014-did-heres-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/372409\/","title":{"rendered":"F1 2026 doesn’t give Wolff the domination vibes 2014 did: Here’s why"},"content":{"rendered":"

According to Mercedes F1<\/a>‘s CEO, team principal and co-owner, Toto Wolff<\/a>, the F1 2026 pre-season sensations are not reminiscent of 2014.”Whether those targets were set ambitious enough and whether those targets have been set in the right place in terms of priorities, only the future will show.”- Toto Wolff.\"russell-abu-dhabi-f1\"\/<\/p>\n

George Russell driving the Mercedes W16 in Abu Dhabi. Photo: Race Pictures<\/p>\n

For the second time in the sport, Mercedes faces an engine regulation change. Last time out, the Germans relentlessly dominated Formula One in an eight year period that yielded 8 Constructors’ titles and seven Drivers’ championships. “Landing in 2014, I\u00a0kind of had [a\u00a0good]\u00a0feeling already in the winter when we were the first ones running a full car dyno,\u201d Wolff told GPblog.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe engine was more reliable than it seemed with the other people. And obviously,\u00a0day one testing, nobody did some laps, we did.\u00a0The same on day two.”<\/p>\n

According to the Austrian team boss, the situation back then cannot be likened to that of today. \u201cSo, it’s not comparable I would say,” he continued. “It’s\u00a0also that the grid is just much more competitive than it was in previous years.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s super difficult to predict, because we set ourselves targets that we are on track to meet.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut whether those targets were set ambitious enough and whether those targets have been set in the right place in terms of priorities, only the future will show.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n

F1 2026 is fast approaching and Mercedes has a defined target<\/p>\n

That future will arrive in a matter of weeks when the F1 teams head to Barcelona for the first test prior to the start of the 2026 season.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not far away, eight weeks or so,\u201d he said after the 2025 season finale in Abu Dhabi. \u201cIt’s\u00a0actually awful\u00a0to say. Today was the first day in the morning when I thought, \u2018I don’t want to go to a\u00a0race track\u2019.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

For Mercedes there is but one goal: \u201c[We’ll do] everything in our power to come out with a car, with a power unit that is competitive enough,\u201d Wolff concluded. \u00a0<\/p>\n

‘Mercedes and Red Bull leapfrog rivals via F1 loophole’Rumors claim some manufacturers complained to the FIA about a loophole in the 2026 F1 power unit rules that Mercedes and possibly Red Bull Powertrains may exploit.
\n Read the story here.<\/a><\/p>\n

Want to stay up-to-date with what happens in the F1 paddock? Then GPblog’s F1 Paddock Update video is the perfect way to do it. Subscribe to GPblog’s YouTube channel and turn on notifications to never miss the latest episodes.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"According to Mercedes F1‘s CEO, team principal and co-owner, Toto Wolff, the F1 2026 pre-season sensations are not…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":372410,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,35119,813,816,189983,85,4703],"class_list":["post-372409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-f1","tag-f1-news","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-mercedes-amg-f1-team","tag-sports","tag-toto-wolff"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=372409"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372409\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/372410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}