Red Bull names bigger 2026 'risk' as Mercedes fear dismissed

Red Bull's power unit chief Ben Hodgkinson has allayed fears F1's new era could be a repeat of Mercedes' domination in 2014.

When F1 first switched to the V6 turbo hybrids in 2014, Mercedes crushed the field, with a sustained challenge not arriving until Ferrari in 2017, although the Silver Arrows would claim eight straight constructors' titles and seven drivers' crowns between 2014 and 2021.

For the reset coming for 2026, given the success of Mercedes High Performance Powertrains, the Mercedes works team has been given unofficial favourite status for the title, with George Russell among the strong favourites for the drivers' crown.

In comparison to Mercedes HPP, Red Bull Powertrains is at the other end of the scale, having developed its very first unit for the 2026 rules, in a technical partnership with Ford.

However, it is not just the power unit rules which are changing for 2026, with the chassis regulations also being overhauled in the single-biggest change to an F1 car season-to-season in history. 

Hodgkinson believes that the chassis changes, which include active aerodynamics and shorter and narrower wheelbases, could potentially be a "bigger risk" than the power unit changes.

"I think the differences between the power units are going to be less than we've seen before in 2014, because the power unit, and the ICE (internal combustion engine) in particular, is very, very similar," Hodgkinson told select media, including RacingNews365. 

"Yes, it's got sustainable fuels, yes, we've lost the MGU-H, and there is the compression ratio limit and a boost limit; there have been lots of tweaks to the regulations that deliberately reset the combustion technology. 

"But it is not a million miles. It is not like we're suddenly developing a different configuration; it is still a V6, it is still fundamentally the same and all the lowering of things like compression ratio and boost limits has actually made the loads and stress a bit less.

"It'll be interesting to see where all the other teams are, but I guess there is a bigger risk on the aero side.

"It is not really my expertise, so you shouldn't take it as an official statement, but there is a complete reset with the whole car. 

"It is not just a reset on the power units, so there should be differences, so we'll see what they are."