Mercedes deny 'illusion' over F1 2026 pace expectations

Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin has asserted his team is not entering F1's new era with the expectation that it will be the benchmark squad.

The cars this year are being constructed under a fresh set of technical regulations, which threaten to cause a dramatic shift in the pecking order.

Among the changes is a revamp of the power unit, as the electrical output is increased to match the combustion engine.

The last time the F1 power units underwent such a dramatic change in 2014, Mercedes soared to the forefront of the pecking order.

But Shovlin has denied that it serves as an indicator that it will once again seek to take advantage of such a dramatic rule change.

“We’re looking forward to a fresh challenge,” Shovlin told media including RacingNews365.

“We started these rules on the back foot, and we've learned a lot during them. But it’s fair to say that they haven't suited us like the previous set.

“There isn't a shred of expectation in our team that the new regulations will miraculously suit us more than the others because they're a bit more similar to what we had in 2020 and 2021.

“We’re more just looking at it as a completely fresh challenge.”

Shovlin added the scale of the change will see various angles of attack across the grid, which places further weight on the seismic challenge.

“There are a lot of areas that the teams are going to be competing in terms of performance, perhaps more than we've ever had,” he said.

“We need to make sure that we’re better than anyone else at that challenge.

“There’s no illusion within the team that these rules will be a return to business as usual for Mercedes.

“We’re going to have to work for it if we want to win.”