James Vowles lauds Mercedes for “exceptional job” with 2026 F1 engine
James Vowles has praised Mercedes for doingꦅ an "exceptional j🍃ob" with their 2026 F1 engine.

James Vowles has hailed Mercedes for doing an “exceptional job” with their 2026 F1 power unit.
F1 willཧ see entirely new technical regulations introduced for the 2026 F1 season𒁏.
Not only are there significant c𝕴hanges on the chassis side, the engines for 2026 are going to be substantia🦄lly different with the focus on sustainability and electrical power.
All engines will be run on sustainable fuels, while there will be an almost 50-50 split 💙between ICE and electrical power.
Mercedes famඣously started 2014 a♋s the top team when it came to engines, dominating the early part of the hybrid era.
It wasn’t until 2018, with Ferrari💞, who were able to get on level terms with Mercedes with their engine.
Speaking o🌳n the Beyond the Grid podcast, Vowles looked ahead to 20ღ26.
“I think Mercedes🐠 have done an exceptional job which is why I was very happy to re-sign back up for an extension to it,” he said.
“And I think you’re going to see differences in power units that don’t exist. Today, pretty much all power uni🅷ts ar𒀰e much of a muchness.
“I think that will all change in 2026 and you will see a🌜 difference between the p💮ower units.
“I don’t think it will be the levels you saw in 2014 where there was such a wide spr🍸ead between the field.”
Vowles believes Mercedes ♔haveᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ potentially stolen a march with “very clever” investing.
“It’s true that if you’ve simplified it, it’s more of what we’re already doing but it’s a completely re-design of what you’re doing in an electrical world and how you’re extracting the most performance from your ICE i﷽s different,” he explained.
“It’s an🌸 opportunity. In the case of Mercedes, they were very clever in investing earlier than others and investing in other areas.”
For 2026, F1 will see Red Bull and Aud🍬i make their own eng🐼ines for the first time.
Honda are returning with Aston Martin, ꦆwhile Mercedes and꧟ Ferrari remain a key player in terms of F1 engines.
Renault have recently a🙈bandoned the🅰ir engine project.

With a sharp eye for F1’s controversies and storylines, Connor is the ✤heartbeat of our unbiased reporting.