F1, new engines from 2025: the Mercedes choice that can help Volkswagen

The 2022 season is approaching, which for Formula 1 will sanction the advent of the new technical regulations and the new single-seaters. In the meantime, however, the teams’ perspective is already turned towards the next “step”, the one that from 2025 should coincide with the use of new engines. The target? Reduce design and development costs, expanding the attractiveness of new builders. A perspective in which Mercedes, dominator of the seven seasons in the name of hybrid engines – since 2014 – seems oriented to accept, if not favor, choices that can facilitate the entry into the circus of new manufacturers, including the Volkswagen group, which with the Audi and Porsche brands seem decidedly interested in entering F1.

THE SITUATION IN F1

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While the meetings between the current manufacturers involved in the top flight of international motorsport and the top of the championship, from the FIA ​​to the Fom, are already underway, the words of the team principal, Toto Wolff, have arrived to confirm the position of the Mercedes-Amg team. of the Italian GP in Monza on 12 September. What is the main question? Define how to design the new engines, which currently consist of a V6 turbo gasoline thermal unit combined with two Motor Generator Units (MGU): in detail the MGU-K (which recovers energy during braking, transforming it into electricity) and the Mgu-H (which uses the heat of the exhaust gases to power a generator to support the turbo, mainly). The elimination of the MGU-H, a complex system to be built and successfully tested in the race, could be the best choice to facilitate the entry of new manufacturers. And among these, the interest of Audi and Porsche – part of the Volkswagen group – linked to the hypothesis of entering F1 is not new.

TOTO WOLFF, L ‘“ASSIST” A VOLKSWAGEN

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“MGU-H will be eliminated if we manage to reach agreement on several other points. I think it may be a compromise – said Toto Wolff, as the agency reports Reuters – I cannot speak for everyone, as Mercedes we are prepared for this scenario to facilitate the entry of the Volkswagen Group. But there are several other aspects where it is necessary to find an agreement ”. Words that have a particular specific weight, thinking about the role of the Mercedes team in the years of Formula 1, and the relative technical “supremacy” shown in relation to the skills acquired.

THE PERSPECTIVE

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A road, the definition of the “perimeter” of the new hybrid engines for Formula 1 cars, which seems to evolve in the name of the sharing of intentions between different manufacturers. Although a postponement from 2025 to 2026 cannot be excluded. “If it is not possible to find an agreement – added Wolff – we will probably return to the governing bodies and in 2026 we will have regulations that will be decided by the FIA ​​and Fom”. Beyond the MGU-H issue, which seems to be the most important on the road to a convergence between the various engine manufacturers (up to the 2021 season, the situation sees Mercedes powering four teams, Ferrari three teams, Renault one team and Honda two , but the Japanese will leave the circus at the end of the season), other topics will be at the center of the definition of the technical regulation for the development of engines, in the name of cost containment and a lower environmental impact.