{"id":627288,"date":"2026-04-25T07:51:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T07:51:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/627288\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T07:51:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T07:51:13","slug":"will-mercedes-lose-their-advantage-with-the-2026-formula-1-regulation-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/627288\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Mercedes lose their advantage with the 2026 Formula 1 regulation change?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Following the recent changes Formula 1<\/a> and the FIA announced to the 2026 regulations, damage limitation at best, Mercedes must be the team least enthused.<\/p>\n

Kudos to Mercedes, as regardless of how bad the 2026 regulations are, they, once again, have managed to ace a rule change, which is what happened back in 2014 when they nailed the first V6 turbo-hybrid era and went on to bag eight F1 constructors’ titles and seven drivers’ crowns.<\/p>\n

Both Mercedes drivers, George Russell and Kimi Antonelli, must be the only drivers on the grid happy with the new rules, while Toto Wolff has defended them, insisting the sport should act<\/a> with a scalpel rather than a baseball bat.<\/p>\n

But with the changes now announced, will Mercedes lose their edge? In the end, they have delivered the most powerful power unit that works on all aspects: internal combustion, battery power, harvesting, deployment…<\/p>\n

We also have to keep in mind that Mercedes were on the receiving end of a rule change banning their ingenious engine compression ratio while their rivals were caught with their pants down.<\/p>\n

1992 F1 Champion Nigel Mansell acknowledges Mercedes’ discontent with rule changes but insists they will still have an advantage.<\/p>\n

Mercedes frustrated?\"toto<\/p>\n

“If you’re Mercedes, you must be incredibly frustrated because you could have gotten a big lead in the championship,” Mansell said. “The people who are struggling, they’d go, ‘Oh, thank you!’. They get a bit more time to sort things out and get ready for the next race.<\/p>\n

“It’s on both ends of the spectrum. Some people are going to feel very comfortable with it and some will feel frustrated. It’s racing anyway. There’s always something going on,” he added.<\/p>\n

Asked whether Wolff and Mercedes are disappointed, the Briton responded: “I don’t think so, because we haven’t had a proper race yet, if you’re a purist.<\/p>\n

“Mercedes have done such a fantastic job; they’ll have an advantage all through the year. Their engine is better than anybody else’s.<\/p>\n

“We’re talking purely here about harvesting power and drivers being able to race the cars on the track and at every corner as much as they can. So it’s a different thing altogether.<\/p>\n

“I still think Mercedes will have an advantage all through the year, but it’s a big development,” Mansell reckoned. “It’s a big development with the cars, with the engines.<\/p>\n

“A month is a very long time, and we could see a lot of changes in Miami. Once we get racing properly, everything can stay stable again.<\/p>\n

“It’s just that everybody is not racing properly at the moment,” he maintained, referring to the regulation changes which will debut in Miami.<\/p>\n

Focus now on Miami\"fake<\/p>\n

With all eyes now set on Miami and how the rule changes will turn out, Mansell acknowledged the first race in the US this season will be pivotal.<\/p>\n

“I hope everything settles down and we have a great race in Miami,” he said. “I think Miami, because the focus is on it, could be one of the pivotal races this year with all the new tweaks.<\/p>\n

“I think Miami’s got hype because obviously without going into the negativity of what’s happening in the war, with this month off, everybody’s hungry to go racing again.<\/p>\n

“So Miami’s going to be under the microscope, and I think it’s going to be a fantastic race down there.”<\/p>\n

The 72-year-old revealed he will attend the Miami Grand Prix. He added: “Well, I’ll let you know firsthand I’m gonna be there this year for one of the days, so I’m gonna go and have a look.<\/p>\n

“This is my first time in Miami. I haven’t been there, but Miami is a great spectacle. I think every year when any race returns, there’s improvements.”<\/p>\n

“I’m very optimistic that Miami will be a much better presentation,” Mansell, a winner of 31 grands prix, concluded. (Source: Aceodds.com<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Following the recent changes Formula 1 and the FIA announced to the 2026 regulations, damage limitation at best,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":627289,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,578,28673,3754,576,577,201355,34391,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-627288","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-formula-1","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-f1","11":"tag-f1-news","12":"tag-fia","13":"tag-formula-1","14":"tag-formula1","15":"tag-mercedes-amg-petronas-f1-team","16":"tag-nigel-mansell","17":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=627288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627288\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/627289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=627288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=627288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=627288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}