Former Formulation 1 driver David Coulthard has known 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 laws. Beforehand, that ratio stood at 18:1, however underneath the brand new laws, the FIA has decreased it to 16:1.
It was urged in December 2025 that Mercedes had discovered a technique to obtain the next compression ratio when the engine is working on observe, 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 might be launched from 1 August 2026 to shut the loophole. This can go to a vote of the ability unit producers, the FIA and F1.Â
It’s value noting that Mercedes crew principal Toto Wolff has insisted that their engine is authorized and that the design has been authorized by the FIA.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
Picture by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Pictures by way of Getty Pictures
“Properly, here is the factor. You talked about the FIA, the Federation Internationale de l’Vehicle. They’re the governing physique of Formulation 1. And I’ve learn just lately they are going, ‘Properly, we’re solely about 20 individuals writing the foundations and Formulation 1 groups of a whole bunch of individuals, which is why we did not work out the loophole after which shut it down,'” Coulthard defined in the course of the Up To Velocity podcast.
The previous Crimson Bull driver added: “If the regulation makers did a greater job, fairly frankly, of understanding the operational window of a Formulation 1 automobile… An operational window of a Formulation 1 automobile is not sitting in a storage at ambient temperature. It’s out on observe. The engine temperature at 110°, all the things crimson sizzling, brakes at over 1000°. That is the place they need to be designing the foundations and laws.”
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