Mercedes expects competition from clients.

      Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff believes that if Mercedes engineers once again build the best power unit in 2026, they may not be able to achieve dominance like in 2014 because of competition from customer teams. Especially since their current customer, McLaren, has won the Constructors' Championship for the second year in a row.

      Toto Wolff: "If our power unit turns out to be the best, it will help four teams at once. Alpine started work on the new car very early, paying a lot of attention to aerodynamics – this year they are not very quick, so they devoted all their time to the new project. A similar situation applies at Williams – they have the same advantage. So our main rivals are our customers. Next year the simulator will become the most important tool for unlocking the car's maximum speed on the real track. Optimal harvesting and deployment of energy will be a key factor for lap time. We'll see overtakes in places where there used to be none – simply because the driver cleverly uses the available energy. I like this concept when drivers start saying, 'That's interesting'."