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Aston Martin team boss Adrian Newey gives his thoughts on Mercedes’ alleged power unit “trick” and the possibility of FIA action.
The biggest controversy that emerged at the beginning of 2026, has centred around the legality of Mercedes’ new power unit.
More specifically, rival F1 teams have accused Mercedes of having found a way of getting around ‘compression ratio limits’, as described in the new regulations.
These teams are calling for the regulations to be amended, which could lead to Mercedes’ power unit being deemed illegal.
Aston Martin team principal Adrian Newey has admitted he is “biased” when it comes to this issue, however he still gave his thoughts.
“I’m biased, clearly,” the Briton said.
“Everybody is aligned bar one manufacturer. Where that will end up, we’ll find out in Melbourne.”
Newey added his team is not “paying much attention” to this issue, as they are firmly focussed on their own preparations for the 2026 season.
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“To be honest, not really paying much attention. We had enough challenges at the moment ourselves.
“We ran one day and a half in Barcelona, we have to understand a lot of our own things. We follow the case from the media and at the same time we trust FIA.”
Ultimately, Newey believes the FIA should make sure that there is a level playing field, when the lights turn green in Melbourne.
“Whatever decisions come, we will accept it. It will be nice to start all with the same rules. The first year of the regulations is, is critical.
“You don’t want to give advantage for the next four or five years to one manufacturer, so we want to to have clarity on that.
“But as I said, not really deep, deep into the conversations or the decisions yet, because we have a lot of things to do in on ourselves,” he concluded.
