Former Method 1 driver David Coulthard has referred to as out the FIA after Mercedes is claimed to have made use of a compression ratio loophole.
The compression ratio is only one of many adjustments launched as a part of the brand new 2026 rules. Beforehand, that ratio stood at 18:1, however beneath the brand new rules, the FIA has lowered it to 16:1.
It was instructed in December 2025 that Mercedes had discovered a approach to obtain the next compression ratio when the engine is working on monitor, taking advantage of a loophole that it is just measured when the automobile is static and at ambient temperatures.
It has now been proposed {that a} rule change may very well be launched from 1 August 2026 to shut the loophole. This can go to a vote of the facility unit producers, the FIA and F1.
It’s value noting that Mercedes staff principal Toto Wolff has insisted that their engine is authorized and that the design has been accepted by the FIA.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
Picture by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Photos through Getty Photos
“Properly, this is the factor. You talked about the FIA, the Federation Internationale de l’Vehicle. They’re the governing physique of Method 1. And I’ve learn not too long ago they are going, ‘Properly, we’re solely about 20 individuals writing the foundations and Method 1 groups of lots of of individuals, which is why we did not determine the loophole after which shut it down,'” Coulthard defined in the course of the Up To Velocity podcast.
The previous Pink Bull driver added: “If the regulation makers did a greater job, fairly frankly, of understanding the operational window of a Method 1 automobile… An operational window of a Method 1 automobile is not sitting in a storage at ambient temperature. It’s out on monitor. The engine temperature at 110°, all the things purple scorching, brakes at over 1000°. That is the place they need to be designing the foundations and rules.”
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