Ferrari U-turn over 2026 F1 engine regs despite Red Bull concerns

According to Italy’s Corriere dello Sport, Ferrari have now agreed to the F1’s next generation of low-cost power units that will be introduced in 2026.

The new formula will retain the current 1.6-litre V6 engines featuring increased electrical power and 100% sustainable fuels, while eliminating the costly MGU-H components. A new power unit cost cap will also come into force.

Ferrari were banned from a meeting of F1 power unit suppliers in December because they had not announced their intention to be part of the 2026 rules cycle.

It is understood Ferrari had concerns about Red Bull Powertrains Limited being branded a newcomer to F1, despite having access to Honda’s Intellectual Property.

Despite Ferrari’s opposition, fellow manufacturers Mercedes and Renault have already signed up to the new regulations, along with Audi.

Corriere reports that Ferrari have since had a change of heart and have now signed a pre-agreement with the FIA. 

F1 is set to hold a crunch meeting to ‘tidy up’ the final details surrounding the 2026 power unit regulations next week.

“The power unit regulations are out and published, they’re not finished, we’re now really tidying up,” F1 chief technical officer Pat Symonds said.

“The chassis regulations we have been working on for a while now, a couple of years on some basic layout, but on January 25 we’ve got a big meeting in Geneva with all the teams, and that’s the first sort of real interaction where we sit down with the teams and we say ‘here are the concepts we want to bring into ’26’ and we start getting their views on that.

“End of January is when we really turn our attention to spending a lot more time with the teams themselves.”