Simone Resta: In 2026, everything will be different.

      In Las Vegas Mercedes deputy technical director Simone Resta spoke about working on the 2026 car…

      Question: There are only ten weeks until the winter tests, you have an opportunity to better understand the new rules. What are the biggest challenges in creating the new car?

      Simone Resta: Thanks for the reminder about the ten weeks, it again shows the pace at which the teams are working right now. There are many technical challenges, both with the chassis and the power unit.

      It’s a completely new power unit using environmentally friendly fuel. A completely new chassis. New aerodynamics, new tyres, fairly complex weight restrictions that must be met, new safety requirements. And none of this can be taken from the past. Overall, the task is very large in scale.

      Racing in 2026 will be completely different, especially the races rather than qualifying. We have all become used to a certain format with DRS, which helps overtaking and is used in specific zones and at certain intervals. Next year every driver will be changing the configuration of the front and rear wings at many points around the lap and will be able to use energy to help with overtaking. So I suppose everything will be different, much more unpredictable when it comes to using energy for overtaking.

      Lap time will differ significantly across tracks with different sensitivity to energy use. The new tyres will be another unknown, even though we’ve all been working with Pirelli, testing their prototypes — we already have some idea of what to expect. There is a lot to learn. The teams that can learn faster and react more effectively to events at the start of the season will be successful.

      Question: How difficult was it this year to combine work on the current car and the 2026 car?

      Simone Resta: This season has been one of the most difficult in Formula 1 for some time. As we’ve said, in 2026 everything will be new. Building the car required huge efforts from the chassis group, from the power unit group, from the fuel supplier and partners. During the intense race season this year it wasn’t easy to manage all the resources within the constrained budget and the limits on wind tunnel time.

      It’s a very complex task, and very enjoyable to tackle. It’s great to set serious goals. All of this makes our work so interesting.

      Question: When did Mercedes start developing the 2026 chassis?

      Simone Resta: I believe all the teams started last year, working on the concept and collaborating with the FIA on the final version of the new rules. Then the pace gradually picked up, and teams made a significant step in the new year, getting the opportunity to work with the 2026 car in the wind tunnel.

      Question: The preseason period often comes with a lot of games between teams: fake images at launches, hiding details in tests, masking speed, holding back final parts until the first race. Do you expect that in 2026 this will become even more extreme?

      Simone Resta: It’s always difficult to judge what rivals are doing, what fuel loads they’re running, what engine settings they’re using. So it will be hard to understand the pecking order at the winter tests.

      We are working flat out to get the most out of creating the new car — in Brackley, in Brixworth, at Petronas — everyone is working hard. We don’t particularly think about others, about what they will show. We’ll see what the results of the first race of the new season in Melbourne are. You kindly reminded us that there are ten weeks to the first tests, and a lot can be done in that time.

      We’re completely focused on that — executing our programme, trying to ensure the car runs reliably in testing. There is still a lot to do. In Melbourne we will see the starting order. But, as this year, it will change from race to race. I think we will need, I don’t know, three, four, five races to understand the real pecking order.