Craig ScarboroughIn the final part of our tech previews, we look at two of the historical giants of F1 who could well challenge for wins and honours in 2026.
Mercedes W17
The 2026 regulations will have been a challenge that not many teams will have wanted, requiring a completely new PU and all new aero as we comprehensively reported.
For Mercedes, this was probably an opportunity they relished.
Having proven themselves with developing the dominant 2014 PU they also struggled massively with the ground effect era since 2022. Everything points towards 2026 being a renaissance for the team.
Mercedes surprised at its launch by mounting the front wing on the middle element. It was thought having two flaps flatten for Straight Line Mode would give the biggest benefit.
Only having the rear flap recline actually gave the team the right aero balance in Straight Line Mode, but no penalty in drag reduction was found with this set up.
Its front suspension sits between the more common inclined design and Red Bull’s flatter set up. As with most teams, Mercedes has followed the McLaren 2025 multilink concept.
Doing away with the lower wishbone for two separate links helps alter the geometry with steer and bump to help with tyre management.
There’s been two versions of the W17 with a major update arriving for the second Bahrain test.
This largely updated the sidepods and floor, with the overall aim appearing to be driving airflow around the sidepod undercut to power the flow around the diffuser.
With this, the cooling outlet concept has also changed with more opening in the sides of the engine cover.
Whilst any representative result from testing is always hard to ascertain, this year, power unit politics have come into the equation.
Mercedes has a neat ‘trick’ to raise the compression ratio when the engine is at operating temperature, to show a strong PU performance in testing but which might be detrimental to their case with its rivals and the FIA.
It’s understood that the combustion engine has until the summer break to run in its current form, then a new testing procedure starts which measures the compression ratio at 130 degrees.
Theoretically this closes any advantage the ‘trick’ gave the manufacturer.
Quite how big an advantage it provides is debatable, however, and will be hard to pick apart from other aspects of Car or PU performance.
PLANNING YOUR DREAM F1 HOLIDAY? FIND YOUR NEAREST HILTON HOTEL
In a similar vein to McLaren, Mercedes’ testing was fast enough and blighted by some reliability issues, suggesting there’s no fundamental issues with the car.
This might be different as the season starts, as there is an updated PU and fuel, while the testing pace may have been sandbagged.
What is clear is that the trials of the recent ground effect era are behind the team.
SHOP THE MERCEDES RANGE.
FREE SHIPPING ON ORDERS OVER £35 WITH CODE FREESHIP
Ferrari SF-26
Not of the first time Ferrari emerges from testing full of promise, and the SF-26 is full ideas that suggest that may be the potential is there.
Throughout testing the car caught the media’s attention with ‘macarena’ rotating rear wing and exhaust blown diffuser flap. But, in every other area the car is on a par with its rivals, not least with its power unit.
There’s little to separate the teams with the front wing design, Ferrari diverge from the norm with the nose design, the wide flat nose tip is paired with a pair of cranked wing mounting pillars.
Controlling the front wing wake is another inclined front wishbone design, Ferrari choose to keep the inner wishbone mounts relatively closely spaced.
Then it replaced the lower wishbone with the current trend of a multilink set up.
The preseason rumour was that Ferrari would start testing with a simple spec car and then massively upgrade it through testing.
It seems this was misplaced, the car appeared from day 1 of testing with many well resolved features.
The wakeboards behind the front wheels are fairly typical but already it has some small vortex generators fitted to the leading edges to keep the airflow attached over the inner surfaces.
Their sidepods are quite bulbous, not because of any cooling issues, but to control the front tyre wake while still allowing a large undercut to route clean airflow around to the diffuser.
They retain the same engine cover outlets as seen in recent Ferraris, leaving a moderate coke bottle exit. Little is known about any of the current power units or their packaging.
Ferrari is no exception. The fact that little of the engine is visible when the engine cover is removed suggests it’s neatly packaged. Ferrari are the only team to have run a rear turbo throughout the 2014-2025 rules.
One area which is widely rumoured is the engine’s turbo sizing.
Knowing that engine response is critical to the drivers making the most of the car through corners, and that race starts or pitlane exits will be key to a good race performance.
SHOP THE FERRARI RANGE – FREE SHIPPING ON ORDERS OVER £35 WITH CODE FREESHIP
The engine department chose not to chase outright power from the combustion engine, by running a smaller turbocharger.
This is critical under the rules without either the MGUH or fuel flow to keep the turbo spooled up when off throttle.
This gives Ferrari a perceived advantage in race starts but may cost them in absolute power on the straights.
But it’s the rear of the car that exploits the new rules in ways no other team has yet to reveal. The rotating rear wing and exhaust blown flap have been explained in detail in the preseason.
But every surface on the rear of the car is exploiting the rules in different ways, the diffuser extends upwards to the meet the exhaust flap.
Several teams have exploited how the FIA mandated diffuser wings are merged into the diffuser sidewalls, by creating a vertical flap.
Ferrari go further by expanding the diffuser laterally to create a wider form. They are able to do this by effectively deleting the diffuser wall and letting the FIA winglets form it instead.
Who has interpreted the regulations better? Only time will tell.
But from pre-season testing alone, fans can be satisfied that two of the biggest marques of all time will certainly be going head-to-head for long periods this season. And probably at the front.
SHOP THE SCUDERIA FERRARI RANGE HERE.
FREE SHIPPING ON ORDERS OVER £35 WITH CODE FREESHIP
Fraser Masefield
