Riccardo Patrese defends Mercedes and Red Bull over 2026 engine “loophole”. Former Formula 1 driver Riccardo Patrese shares his view on the compression ratio controversy ahead of the 2026 season.

The engine issue dominates the debate

The build-up to the 2026 Formula 1 World Championship has been — and continues to be — shaken by the issue surrounding the compression ratio of the V6 internal combustion engine. According to paddock rumours, Mercedes is believed to have found a way to increase the compression ratio when the power unit is running, while still returning to the parameters set by the regulations “cold” at the moment when FIA delegates carry out their measurements.

The power unit developed in Brixworth is therefore at the centre of an increasingly intense technical debate, with rivals closely monitoring the situation. The suspicion is that thermal expansion is being exploited to achieve higher efficiency and performance once the engine reaches operating temperature, without formally breaching the limits defined by the rulebook during official checks.

The former driver’s view

According to Riccardo Patrese, Mercedes — and Red Bull too, if and when it manages to successfully implement the same solution — has not broken the rules, and the FIA should not penalise them. “Mercedes and Red Bull are operating perfectly within the regulations, which state that the compression ratio must be 16:1 when cold,” Patrese said when speaking to BetVictor Online Casino. “It seems they have developed engines that use thermal expansion to achieve a higher and more powerful compression ratio, around 18:1. They have a material that can improve compression. So congratulations to the engineers for coming up with this idea.”

Riccardo Patrese then added further context to his assessment of the situation: “From my point of view, now we will see what happens, because obviously the others are not happy. But in the past, Formula 1 has had these kinds of issues — someone discovers something at the limit and gains an advantage. That is what engineers are good at. They find ways to work around the regulations or to push them to the limit. They did well to find the material that makes all of this work.”

“It’s difficult to say with certainty what the advantage might be,” Riccardo Patrese continued. “Just because Mercedes and Red Bull have been very smart, they should not be penalised by the FIA for that. That is what I think. From my point of view, this is what Formula 1 should be and what it has always been about. It’s about having good ideas to stay ahead. For me, that’s fine. It’s not like they are cheating. They have simply had a brilliant idea on how to make the engine work better.”