Ferrari has firmly ruled out launching a protest against Mercedes-powered F1 teams at the Australian GP as the compression ratio saga continues.
With a deadline of Sunday, March 1st to homologate the 2026 power unit designs, talks remain ongoing between F1's five power unit manufacturers and the FIA over the controversial trick developed by Mercedes High Performance Powertrains (HPP).
Its increased compression ratio of 18:1 when the engine is hot generates more power, with the rules only saying that the ratio is measured at ambient temperatures when in the pits and not on track.
As such, Ferrari, Audi, and Honda are leading a challenge to change the measuring requirements to when the engines are running hot, with Mercedes firmly against. The swing vote among the teams is Red Bull Powertrains, which is believed to have swung its backing behind the former trio.
To change the rules, a supermajority of the Power Unit Advisory Committee (PUAC) is required, with four teams, plus the FIA and the commercial rights holder (Formula One Management, FOM) needing to vote in favour.
The positions of the FIA and FOM have not been made public, with the possibility of protests being launched in Australia if Mercedes HPP is allowed to continue using the trick by one of the seven non-Mercedes HPP teams, but Ferrari boss Vasseur has ruled out one coming from his team.
"We are not there to make a protest," Vasseur told media, including RacingNews365.
"We are there to have clear regulations and to have everybody with the same understanding of the regulations, but we don't speak about [launching a] protest.
"With the new regulations on the battery, on the engine, on the chassis, on the tyres and the sporting regs, we were going into the direction where we have grey areas.
"There were going to be different understandings of the regulations from team to team, and sometimes from teams to the FIA. It's a direct consequence of the new regulation, and it was always like this.
"The most important thing for me is to get clarity. Everybody can accept that we made mistakes, or we didn't have the same understanding before.
"But what we need is to have it clear cut that it’s now 'like this'. I think it's what we can expect from next week."
Also interesting:
In this video, we explore a fascinating Mercedes engine theory that is engulfing the F1 paddock. We break down how it works, why it matters, and why this advantage — if real — may be brilliant, legal… but only temporary.
Most read
In this article
Join the conversation!