Wolff responds to 2026 'favourite' tag, cautions on predictions

10:10, 20 Dec

1 Comments

byOlly Darcy

Toto Wolff has had his say on whether Mercedes will be the favourite coming into the 2026 Formula 1 season.

"[The 2026 season] is not far away. Eight weeks or so, it’s actually awful to say!"

- Toto Wolff

A sweeping regulation overhaul will grace the pinnacle of motorsport next campaign, marking the end of the ground-effect cars as new engines and active aerodynamics come to the fore.

Mercedes may have missed the mark after regulation changes in 2022 with their 'sidepod-less' design, but in 2014, their development into the hybrid era saw them race away from the rest of the grid.

The German team went on to win seven consecutive Drivers' Championships and eight Constructors' Championships in that time, and now they are being touted as potential favourites for 2026 amid the overhaul of regulations.

Toto Wolff became Mercedes team principal and CEO in January 2013 - Photo: Race Pictures

"It's super difficult to predict," Wolff started by saying to GPblog and others in Abu Dhabi when posed with the tag of being 'favourites'.

"We set ourselves targets that we are on track to meet, but whether those targets were set ambitious enough, and whether those targets have been set in the right place in terms of priorities, only the future will show.

"It’s coming up quickly, just eight weeks away, which is awful to say!"

Will 2026 be a repeat of 2014 for Mercedes?

A year beofre regulation changes came into effect in 2014, Mercedes finished P2 in the Constructors Championship. In 2025, they were able to do the same, with George Russell winning two Grands Prix.

The Brit stated that the 'extremely challenging regulations' meant Mercedes could not continue their dominance since the hybrid era, but there was hope that Mercedes could start 2026 on the front foot.

But Wolff believes there are several difference between the 2013 and 2025 seasons.

george-russell-on-the-podium-in-singapore

George Russell celebrating his win at the Singapore Grand Prix - Photo Race Pictures

"I remember that press conference in Brazil, we were calculating with a pen and paper what points we needed to finish second in the championship," the Mercedes CEO reminisced.

"We ended up winning three races and finishing P2. We were certainly more cheerful than in 2025, considering where we came from. Then, landing in 2014, I kind of had the feeling already in the winter, when we were the first ones running a full car dyno, the engine was more reliable than it seemed with the other people.

"But it's not comparable, I would say. The grid is just much more competitive than it was in previous years," concluded the Austrian.

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