Toto Wolff believes the "biggest risk" facing F1 teams in 2026 is their simulations and tests not matching "reality" ahead of the radical rule changes.
For next season, grand prix cars are to undergo the single-biggest change to the technical regulations in the history of the world championship, with both the chassis and power unit rules being overhauled.
The new chassis are to feature active aerodynamics whilst the power units are to feature beefed-up electrical systems capable of producing 350kw of battery power, up from 120kw in 2025, with the MGH-H also being removed.
Mercedes has been touted as the favourites owing to its success with the turbo hybrids when introduced in 2014, but the team was derailed from its eight straight constructors' crowns in 2022 with the introduction of the ground-effect regulations.
Looking ahead, Wolff believes the proof will ultimately be in the pudding when the new breed of cars hit the track for the first time and the "reality" becomes known.
"Only the future will show, people tend to try and pin it down to a single factor, which was the basis for success or failure," Wolff told media, including RacingNews365.
"Whether it is someone new in the management, the team principal, the technical director, the head of aerodynamics, or a lot of geniuses, or not geniuses, that have come and changed the destiny of the team.
"Fundamentally, it is a group of people working together and taking the right decisions collectively based on the right sets of data, with the right infrastructure, with the most correlation between the virtual world and the real world.
"Because, that is, today, with all the limitations we have, where you find out about your car, and if it doesn't represent the reality once you put it on the road, that is the biggest risk for ay team.
"I am never confident, I am a glass-half-empty person, so we just do everything in our power to come out with a car and a power unit which is competitive enough to fight for the championship."
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