2026 Drama: Alleged engine loophole

[DJ Downforce]

The race has come out with an article accusing Mercedes and red bull of exploiting a part of their engines in hotter ambient temps.



Thoughts?

[WardenOfTheNorth]

Mercedes and RBPT are alleged to have found this loophole, so I say bring it on. That's 6 teams with the extra. The others can figure out how to do the same.

This is what F1 is all about. Push the rules to the maximum.

[FittingMechanics]

Similar situation to flexible wings.

These things are designed and measured in ambient temperatures. I am sure that even manufacturers that don't use the "trick" probably do not have 16:1 compression ratio, it is probably slightly higher. But Mercedes PT (and Red Bull PT) take this to the extreme by using special materials that change this ratio even more. Quite interesting from an engineering side but not road relevant.

Not sure they will outlaw this, maybe for next year or so. Even so it seems quite complicated to develop a measuring system that would work at working temperatures of the combustion chamber. How could you easily test this? It sounds too hard to do and II feel FIA will just say that the rule specifies measurement at ambient temperature.

With 6 teams using these engines it seems unlikely that they will vote this away?

[Badger]

They will struggle to ban it now, it's going to take a lot of time for manufacturers to change such a fundamental part of their design. The FIA is ultimately at fault due to ambiguous writing of the regulations.

Besides, these engines are underpowered as is, any tricks that help bring more power is good in my book. I'd rather let them keep it and the others can exploit the same thing later.

[pantherxxx]

It's clever engineering, not cheating. I'm just glad that Red Bull Ford Powertrains found this loophole. It shows they have same pretty smart people there, not to be underestimated for 2026.

[carisi2k]

I thought that there was a restriction on what materials can be used in the manufacture of the ICE's. Doesn't it have to be either steel or an aluminum alloy with no titanium or other fancy materials allowed. FIA should have just allowed 18:1 because F1 is the pinnacle of motorsport and that is what the old engines used.

[AR3-GP]

The PUs will be used like electrical generators. Therefore, having an extra 11kW (15hp) available from the ICE to be converted to electrical energy is a significant development.

Some back of the envelope math suggest this could be worth around 0.7 MJ of extra electrical energy in a lap (more or less depending on track) and in the neighborhood of 40MJ across a GP distance (track dependent). The battery pack has a holding capacity of 4MJ in a single lap even though you can recover between 5-to 8.5MJ depending on circuit. 40MJ is worth around 10 full battery top ups in a race distance "for free" compared to a team with 15hp less. Teams can also operate the PU in a different way. They can choose to use less fuel. That's valuable on weight sensitive circuits like Qatar.

Such a thing will also take the others a long time to copy. The entire engine is designed around this compression ratio. Everything from the size of the turbo, turbine geometry, water cooling jacket, pistons, valves, manifolds is designed for it. Other teams would more or less have to scrap their designs to accommodate a different compression ratio. Cost cap makes that difficult and it takes longer.

[dialtone]

Easy ban. Not even much to think about. Of course that’s if we were talking about Ferrari, in all other cases instead it’s all legal.

[Matt2725]

Easy ban. Not even much to think about. Of course that’s if we were talking about Ferrari, in all other cases instead it’s all legal.

I'm sure they can clarify the rules, but it's likely too late to do anything about it.

[johnny vee]

This is crazy if it's true. There is a possibility that it's not true, also how would other teams know? A Mercedes or RBPT employee that is at another team now?
The compression ratio sounds like a very specific number, even if they could get 16.88:1 compared to 16:1 that would also be a big advantage.

[pantherxxx]

If Mercedes also developed this you can almost be certain they won't ban it.

[dialtone]

Easy ban. Not even much to think about. Of course that’s if we were talking about Ferrari, in all other cases instead it’s all legal.

I'm sure they can clarify the rules, but it's likely too late to do anything about it.

That would obviously be incredibly corrupt, so pretty likely.

[majki2111]

I was also wondering who acually reads the rules and decides: "We will go with that route." Do even QC technicians get rulebook?

[proteus]

If this is true, then hats off to Mercedes and Ford. And they definetly should keep the advantage. I do wonder how some people and leaders in F1 think that everyone should have the same power with different suppliers. The best should exceed, others simply try harder, or embrace their inferiority.

[Chuckjr]

This is BAD NEWS for all the other teams. At least Red Bull are with it, so we won't have another Merc only season. Fantastic work from Merc and Red Bull. Very very clever engineering. Well done. That is all Red Bull and Merc need for that extra .5 seconds to qualify at the top every race, and always have race pace advantage. This is an enormous development. Other engine manufacturers will not be able to catch up till it is far, far too late for 2026. Peace out Fred! lol.