Yesterday at 12:00
A senior Haas F1 team member has suggested there is some "fear"
across the grid over the potential for one team to eke out a large
gap to the competition next year. F1 will undergo a significant
regulation change in 2026, with significant changes coming to both
the aerodynamic and power units. The last major engine change came
in 2014, which saw Mercedes produce a far superior power unit to
the rest of the field. Five manufacturers have signed up to join F1
next year, all bringing their own concepts in the hope of taking a
leap up the pecking order. Jonathan Heal, who works as deputy
chief engineer at Haas, has highlighted the very real possibility
of one manufacturer building a dominant power unit. "There are a
lot of unknowns on the engine side and probably a little bit of
fear of what happened in 2014," Heal told media including
RacingNews365 . "The regulations change completely. It's not
entirely sure where each of the power units will be and whether it
is a big dominance on that." The FIA has insisted it does not
expect to see gaps similar to 2014 next year as the technology is
much simpler compared to the original turbo hybrids, as well as
giving those who lag behind a chance to catch up. Heal highlighted
there is significant focus on the power units, as he believes teams
can gain more time from the engines rather than the aerodynamic
configurations. "If Mercedes manages to do, or someone manages to
do, similar to what Mercedes did in 2014, the time difference that
you can gain from power unit is bigger than or you can gain from
aerodynamic development," he said. "Then it could become about that
or tyres. "At the moment, it's not clear, because we don't know
exactly the pecking order of the power units. "Once that's clearer,
then it will be easier to say. But hopefully not."
