One Engine Likely To Dominate F1 In New Era – Newey

A single engine manufacturer is likely to dominate Formula 1 when the all-new and sweeping 2026 regulations come into force.

That’s the view of Adrian Newey, who amid Red Bull’s internal turmoil last year elected to leave the team and join the ambitious Mercedes-powered Aston Martin project.

“If you had told me 12 months ago that I would leave Red Bull and start everything completely from scratch, I would have said ‘No that can’t happen – you’re crazy’.

“But for various reasons, I felt that I wouldn’t be honest with myself if I had stayed at Red Bull. Once I had made that decision, the next question was what do I do next.”

The answer is that he will start work at Silverstone in early March and will predominantly focus on Aston Martin’s 2026 package. Mastering brand new rules from the very start is regarded as one of Newey’s greatest technical strengths.

The 66-year-old told Auto Motor und Sport: “I think there is a strong possibility that it will be an engine-dominated formula at the start.

“The reality is that I can’t think of another time in Formula 1 where the chassis and engine regulations have changed simultaneously. And in this case, the chassis rules have largely been written to try to compensate for the power unit rules. So that’s another dimension,” Newey explained.

When the current generation of engines debuted way back in 2014, Mercedes came out of the blocks with a huge advantage that paved the road for the works team’s run of seven consecutive drivers’ and constructors’ titles.

“I think the engine manufacturers will have learned something from the lack of preparation that Mercedes’ rivals had before that change,” Newey said.

“But there is the potential for one manufacturer to stand out far above the rest and for the regulations to be dominated by power units, at least initially,” he added.

Newey thinks the situation is potentially so serious that a single engine maker’s dominance could actually last for the entire duration of the new rules cycle.

“There is the possibility that if that advantage is on the combustion engine side, someone can develop a dominant engine that is maintained for the entire duration of the formula,” he said. “Because the way the rules are written, it is quite difficult for those who are behind to catch up with the leaders.

“If the advantage is on the electric side, there is much more scope to make up ground if you are behind.”

However, the Briton also admitted that he is yet to get his head fully around the new regulations and their likely impact.

“The power unit rules have been published for a while,” said Newey, “but on the chassis side, aerodynamics and vehicle dynamics, I don’t have much knowledge of that.

“I’ve been out of Formula 1 since April 2024, so the truth is that I don’t know everything about the rules at the moment. So that will be a quick learning curve when I start.”