George Russell is confident that Mercedes will deliver the strongest power unit in Formula 1 in 2026, but he emphasizes that having a competitive car will also be critical. Otherwise, the risk of being outperformed by customer teams could be very high.
The second half of the 2025 Formula 1 season begins this weekend at Zandvoort, yet most teams are already looking ahead to next year and the new technical regulations that will produce cars very different from those on the grid today.
With the first shakedown tests scheduled for late January 2026 at Barcelona’s Montmelo circuit, teams are working intensely to develop their new cars and be ready for the four days of testing on the Catalan track.
According to early reports (unofficial and therefore to be taken with caution), Mercedes has developed a power unit that shows a lot of promise. If these reports are accurate, the Silver Arrows and their customer teams could start the new era of Formula 1 as favorites in just a few months.
George Russell, returning in strong form after the summer break, shares this optimistic view. He believes the power unit developed in Brixworth will be in line with the best engines Mercedes has produced at its British headquarters in recent years.
“I’m definitely very confident regarding the power unit. I think, on average, over the last 10 years—maybe even longer—I can’t recall a time when Mercedes didn’t have the best engine in Formula 1, except in 2019, but obviously there were other reasons for that,” Russell said.
He was referring to the Ferrari engine, for which the Maranello-based manufacturer and the FIA reached a secret agreement that saw Ferrari struggle for two seasons (one affected by COVID-19, which froze technical developments for power units). In his view, Mercedes has produced the best engines in F1 from the V8 era through to the current hybrid era.
“Even before the regulation changes, during the V8 era, I think the Mercedes engine was probably the most competitive. So, I am very confident in the Brixworth organization, but of course, we at Mercedes F1 are aware that McLaren has that engine, Alpine will have that engine, and even Williams seems stronger this year.”
“So, just because we are confident in having a powerful engine and good fuel from Petronas—which is something we haven’t really discussed publicly before—this is a really important factor for next year, especially with everything moving towards sustainability,” Russell added.
Mercedes, however, seems to have learned a key lesson. Despite having a very competitive power unit, the team was beaten—sometimes heavily—by a customer team over the past two seasons: McLaren. This demonstrates that having a great engine does not automatically make a team the favorite for race wins or championships. Something else is required: a car that is competitive in all areas, as McLaren proved in 2024 and even more so in 2025.
“You can’t relax because there are many teams on the grid that also have our engine. So yes, we really need to stay alert. At the end of the day, the reason we haven’t won championships over the past four years wasn’t the engine, and we are fully aware of that,” Russell concluded.
Leave a Reply