Factory Teams Still Rule in F1 | F1 News

The game’s changed in Formula One, and it’s not just about the engine anymore—it’s about who can extract the most from it. With new power units in 2026 and the FIA’s rule mandating identical specs for factory and customer teams, the real battle is in optimization. McLaren, despite having the same Mercedes engine as the factory team, lags behind in energy management and software tuning—areas where Mercedes’ deep, accumulated expertise gives them an edge. Even throttle inputs hint at advanced techniques McLaren can’t yet replicate. In this hybrid-powered era, it’s not the hardware that wins, but the know-how to make it sing—making factory teams’ technical mastery the ultimate differentiator when every tenth of a second counts. Listen in comfort:Get a discount on a Soli Pillow: http://solipillow.com/discount/dnn. Advertise on DNN:[email protected] This is an automated, high-level news summary based on public reporting.Report issues to [email protected]. View sources & latest updates:https://sources.thednn.ai/be0583e4bf8e4eaf