(Motorsport-Total.com) – Expert Ralf Schumacher suspects that Mercedes has the best package before the start of the 2026 Formula 1 season. “I believe that they are significantly ahead,” he says after the winter testing in Bahrain on the Backstage Boxengasse podcast from Sky.
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Although Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc set by far the fastest time in Sakhir in February, Schumacher suspects that Mercedes “significantly” turned down its own engine during the test and therefore still has a lot of room for improvement.
“In my view, Mercedes is holding back time,” says the six-time Grand Prix winner, who recalls: “It has happened before that Mercedes really released the performance bit by bit as it was needed, during the time when they dominated everything.”
This refers to the beginning of the hybrid era in 2014. At that time, the Mercedes engine was by far the best in the field, and the then technical director Paddy Lowe confirmed years later in the Beyond The Grid podcast that the Silver Arrows almost never had to use full power.
“In qualifying, we never turned the engine up for Q1 or Q2,” said Lowe, who explained: “The discussion was then about how far the engine should be turned up for Q3.” And even then, in many cases, they didn’t have to go to the limit.
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“The engine was simply a bit further ahead back then,” Schumacher recalls today. The expert can imagine a similar scenario in 2026, especially since he emphasizes that the Mercedes works team is “simply strong as a team” even apart from the power unit.
His suspicion is therefore that Mercedes is currently “by a large margin” ahead. At the same time, however, Schumacher also makes it clear that this does not necessarily mean that the team will also win the World Championship title superiorly at the end of the year.
Asked about a World Championship prediction, Schumacher says: “That would be complete nonsense now.” One must first wait and see how the first races develop and whether the impressions from the test drives are confirmed there.
At the season opener in Melbourne, one will see “really” for the first time “where everyone stands.” And even that will not yet have final significance, because the track in Albert Park alone is “not representative of the rest of the season,” Schumacher emphasizes.
After the test drives, however, it gives the impression that Mercedes is “by far ahead.”
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