Wolff makes Mercedes power unit progress concession

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has conceded he is unsure how the German marque's 2026 F1 power unit development is going.

The Austrian's squad will continue to provide engines for three customer teams when the regulations are overhauled at the end of the season to come.

Whilst Williams and McLaren remain under Mercedes' supply, Aston Martin will embark on a works deal with Honda.

However, Alpine is surrendering its own works team status, with Renault bowing out of the series, and will be buying engines from the Wolff-led operation.

It is widely anticipated that Mercedes will start the new power unit era strongly, as it did at the advent of Turbo-Hybrid V6s in 2014.

Although, this is partly based on the expectation that other teams may be initially slow out the gates, like Red Bull, which is developing its own power unit for the first time, and Audi, which is new to F1 entirely.

Nevertheless, Wolff is practicing caution, highlighting that whilst some targets are being met and some are still being worked towards, the teams ultimately lack a true reference point and absolute context, especially compared to what rival manufacturers might be achieving. 

"Certain expectations we're meeting, that's good," the 52-year-old told media including RacingNews365.

"Others, we're still pushing to achieve our targets. It's not trivial.

"But then the question is, have you set your expectations in the right way? So the answer is, we don't know where we are."