The story with Mercedes and Red Bull engines is not over yet.

      The saga over Mercedes’ and Red Bull’s power units continues: the European press reports that in the coming weeks the FIA, together with the engine manufacturers, will hold a number of further meetings at which they will try to find some solution acceptable to everyone.

      Since the FIA has no questions for Mercedes and Red Bull and their new engines have been deemed compliant with the 2026 technical regulations, it is possible that a compromise solution, if found, could allow the other engine manufacturers to make up some of the shortfall.

      Naturally, this situation has attracted the attention of many experts; in particular, Spanish analyst Alberto Fabrega, in the latest episode of his vlog, argues that the design features of Mercedes’ engines provide not only a power advantage.

      An additional benefit is that increasing the compression ratio from 16:1 to 18:1 produces a more homogeneous combustion of the fuel mixture, which is a key factor affecting the fuel efficiency of the power unit. And since its overall efficiency is likely higher than that of competitors’ products, this allows the battery to be charged more effectively during the race, and that could be the key advantage.

      Fabrega doubts it is worth talking about 0.3 seconds per lap—such estimates seem to him a clear exaggeration. However, he emphasizes that in this case we are only dealing with one “grey area” of the regulations related to the engines, and in reality the developers of next-generation cars may have found other tricks in other areas, such as aerodynamics.

      As the Spanish expert who works with ESPN summed up, “we are in for a year of countless technical directives” that the FIA will send to the teams for one reason or another. Moreover, these documents are likely to be internal in nature, i.e., it is far from certain that reliable information about them will immediately appear in the press.