New Season. New Era. New Opportunity.
2026 represents a decisive moment for our team and for the sport.
The upcoming season will be shaped by some of the most demanding technical regulation changes we have faced. These rules will test every aspect of our organisation, while also creating significant opportunities to innovate and set new performance benchmarks.
A new era for our team and our sport kicked off at a rainy Silverstone in January, where George and Kimi got behind the wheel of W17 for the first time. A week later, the team completed F1's official Shakedown week with three days of running in Barcelona.
Read moreThe biggest shake up of the regulations since 2014, not only are cars for 2026 smaller, shorter, and narrower, there is also a whole new Power Unit to factor in, too.
“The 2026 season represents a significant moment in the sport’s history. For those of us who live and breathe engineering, it’s both exhilarating and daunting in equal measure,” says the team’s Technical Director, James Allison.
“This isn’t just a tweak to the regulations - it’s a wholesale transformation of almost every aspect of the car. Power Unit, chassis, aerodynamics, tyres: all are being changed at once.”
The W17 has been conceived around the new chassis regulations that set a shorter wheelbase (‑200 mm), reduced width (‑100 mm), and ~30 kg lower minimum weight.
Active aerodynamics—movable front and rear wings – will help to balance drag and downforce across straights and corners.
Other changes include narrower front and rear tyres to cut drag and mass, complementing the aero reset and revised suspension kinematics, plus the removal of the Drag Reduction System in favour of increased energy deployment with Boost and Overtake modes to provide good racing.
Hywel Thomas, Managing Director of Mercedes‑AMG HPP, said: “The 2026 Formula One season marks an entirely new chapter— for the sport in general and particularly for those at the coalface of powertrain development.
"As Managing Director of Mercedes‑AMG High Performance Powertrains, I’ve never seen a challenge like this: new Power Unit architecture, sustainable fuels, greater hybrid emphasis—all converging at once together with a whole new car.
"It’s not merely an evolution; it’s a revolution."
At the heart of the W17 is Mercedes‑AMG High Performance Powertrain’s (HPP) all‑new hybrid Power Unit, created for the 2026 rules:
A near 50:50 split between internal combustion and electrical power output.
Removal of the MGU‑H and a step‑change in MGU‑K capability from 120 kW to 350 kW, with new energy recovery and deployment strategies.
Advanced sustainable fuel from PETRONAS, engineered as a drop‑in solution to deliver performance with reduced lifecycle carbon impact, aligned to F1’s sustainability pathway.