Williams F1 Team Principal James Vowles was not afraid to speak up on one of the most clamoured topics of the upcoming 2026 Formula 1 season: the compression ratio and the Mercedes power unit.
An intriguing rumour about the former championship winning team
Rumours about the German manufacturer toying with the grey areas of the impending new generation of cars have been circulating consistently for the past few months. Additionally, three of the other major manufacturers on the grid, have decided to jointly take action. In fact, Audi, Ferrari and Honda sent to the FIA an official communication requiring clarifications about the matter.
However, Vowles doesn’t believe in policing the innovative approach taken by Mercedes for the upcoming 2026 F1 season. He highlighted the importance that different car development has in the single-seater championship, in line with its long and glorious history.
“My harsh line on it is the PU that we have in the car is completely compliant with the regulations. It is not a month of work but several years of work to produce the PU to that level. We, as a sport, have to take care that this is not a BOP series. This is a meritocracy where the best engineering outcome effectively gets rewarded as a result, not punished as a result.”
Nothing is official yet, however
While acknowledging the importance of the improvements apparently made by Mercedes F1 for 2026, Vowles warns that nothing has been confirmed so far versus the other engine makers.
“I’m sure other teams are pissed off. They weren’t able to achieve what Mercedes did, but we also need to take care. Right now, I don’t think there’s a person in the pitlane that can tell you what is the best PU, and we only focus on one detail of it.
“My hope is that sense prevails and that we, as a sport, recognise that we are here to be a meritocracy, and that the best engineering solution wins as a result of it. Therefore we are where we are right now, but I maintain that our PU is completely compliant with all regulations.”
The Williams Team Principal explained that Mercedes’s brilliance was the greatest reason behind his choice of affiliation when looking for an engine manufacturer.
Another key point is the great experience and success when it comes to new regs. 2014 saw them obliterate the opposition, winning every Constructors’ Championship through to 2021. Only in that final year did they lose the Drivers’ Championship.
“I’ve been with Mercedes for 23 years, pretty much from the start of my career, that’s what I’ve always been a part of. The day I joined, I re-signed the Mercedes arrangement here at Williams for pretty much that reason – which is that they are incredibly good at regulation changes, reading the rules exactly as the rules are, and making sure you push the boundaries of engineering. That is exactly what the PU represents right now for Mercedes.”
Calls for action, but which actions?
Rival teams have asked for standard tests and procedures to ensure the correct and literal application of all the newly implemented news. On the other hand, the Brit warns that it might be rather challenging, as the FIA will need to elaborate and implement new measures as the season goes by.
“First of all, they have to come up with a regulation, and good luck with them, where you’re testing power units in the conditions you’re trying to run on track. Anyone that knows anything about compression ratios, even if you’ve done your own cars, you kind of want to do it when it’s ambient.
“I’m sure they can determine a way of testing it, but the next element is that there are now two more steps. One: are we compliant even with any future regulation changes? No one knows that one particularly.”
Vowles: It would not an issue only for Mercedes ahead of 2026 F1 season
Additionally, creating an issue about this specific instance will bring trouble to all teams whose engines are supplied by Mercedes, including Williams of course.
“And the second element of things is what do you do when you have effectively changed the rules? That now means that if we are not legal to it, that there are eight cars not participating on the grid. And that’s what I meant by we, as a sport, have to really think about what the implication of this change is.”
To round off Vowles remarks his belief that the FIA shouldn’t listen to the opinions of the other manufacturers, while also underlining the fact that Mercedes is definitely exploiting a loophole within the new 2026 F1 regulations.
“To defend the FIA, the FIA has a hard job. You have teams filled with a thousand individuals thinking about how we can interpret the rules in a clever way. Let’s be blunt about it, that’s what teams do, and that’s why we love the sport. It is difficult. There’s 20-odd people trying to fight against 10,000 out there on the grid. It’s probably not that amount, but you get the idea behind it.
“The FIA do a really good job, generally speaking, of finding the boundary between clever interpretation and allowing it to go forward. What I’m stating here is that we need to take care that it’s not just politically driven by other teams that didn’t think of clever innovations now. The FIA’s job is to take a correct line of action on all of this.”
