Hulkenberg backs change Verstappen is demanding against own team Audi: "I'm open for it"

The question was put to Hulkenberg directly by GPblog, and his answer was careful but unambiguous on the central point.

When it was put to Hulkenberg that his team is among those opposed to the change, he did not dispute it. Instead he framed the debate as a broader political problem with no straightforward solution, one made more complicated by the simultaneous arrival of the Agreed Development Under Operations framework.

The acknowledgement that any change carries significant engineering consequences is a point Audi and other opposing manufacturers have made repeatedly. Hulkenberg understands the complexity, but his openness to the change regardless puts him at odds with the position his own constructor has taken in the manufacturer meetings where the proposal is being debated.

Verstappen has been the most vocal advocate for the 60/40 split, arguing that the current balance leaves drivers too dependent on managing electrical energy during races and reduces the spectacle of wheel-to-wheel combat. His influence as the sport's dominant driver of recent years gives his position weight in those negotiations beyond what his single vote in the room would suggest.

The current 2026 power unit regulations introduced a substantially increased role for the electrical component relative to the interal combustion engine, a shift that has generated criticism from several drivers who argue it places too great a premium on energy management at the expense of raw racing.

A move to 60/40 in favour of the internal combustion engine would reduce that dependency and, proponents argue, make overtaking and tyre management less vulnerable to the state of a driver's battery. Opponents counter that any mid-cycle regulation change carries development costs and timelines that cannot simply be wished away, a point Hulkenberg himself acknowledged.

What makes his comments in Monaco notable is not that he expressed a preference, but that he did so while representing a manufacturer that has invested its entire Formula 1 programme around the current power unit architecture. Hulkenberg's willingness to step outside that position, even in the measured terms he used on Thursday, adds a voice from inside the Audi camp to a debate that Verstappen has so far been carrying largely from the outside.