Mercedes put ‘50%’ of their staff on the 2026 engine as soon as ‘difficult times’ began in 2022

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Mercedes realised very early into the 2022 season that they had to prioritise the development of the 2026 engine going forward.

Even with their dominance at the start of the season being slightly diminished in the last two races, Mercedes have been the standout team in 2026.

As far back as Bahrain testing, it became evident that Mercedes had an edge over their rivals in many different facets of racing.

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As Mercedes identified this engine advantage, they backed themselves to come out swinging and be the best team this season.

But this dominance didn’t come overnight. In fact, the work on the engine for Mercedes began four years ago, after their last constructors’ championship win.

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Former Mercedes engineer Josema Galan spoke to Minimo Comun Multipla in a recent interview about his time at Mercedes, when he joined them in 2022.

He admitted that the start of the 2022 season was so dire that Mercedes almost immediately decided to dedicate half their engineering staff to work on the 2026 engine to ensure another regulation change wouldn’t hurt them in the future.

“I arrived in the team when the difficult times arrived. Everyone was thinking it would be temporary, but then they saw how it started to drag and led to more losses…

“In 2022, the start was catastrophic, especially with the morale of the team and the bosses. Everyone was very used to winning. And that’s why there was an atmosphere of, ‘this has to happen quickly,’ and it didn’t. It was long…”

“I arrived in Formula 1 under completely frozen regulations. And I thought, ‘What am I going to do here? Everything will be the same.’ The 2026 regulations were already fully defined.

“The first concept of what the engine was going to be like was already in place, and I was saying, ‘There will be almost no one working on the current engines.’

“It was about a 50/50 split, with half working on the 2022-25 engines through the years, and the rest on the 2026 engines.”

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Mercedes’ dedication to 2026 season looks to be paying off

While it may have been considered a risky strategy to dedicate half of their staff to work on the 2026 engine four years out from when it was needed, it’s hard to argue that it isn’t paying off right now.

There seems to have been an understanding that the 2022 regulation change was something Mercedes just wouldn’t be able to adapt to, so they seemingly wrote off four seasons to get an advantage at the next regulation change.

The risk did seem to backfire initially, after there were questions raised about the Mercedes engine’s legality, especially after complaints from rival teams.

But Mercedes were vindicated in the end, as their engine passed the legal requirements before the season, and they went on to get the best start to the season possible.

Of course, should Mercedes get lapped by their rivals this year and in the years to come in the championship battle, their sacrificing four seasons for one engine will not be a good look.

This is why it is so important that Mercedes stay on top and push to win the world championship this year, as it would validate their work over the last few years.