McLaren warns everyone loses if 2027 F1 changes are blocked

McLaren boss Andrea Stella thinks “everyone” in Formula 1 will lose if a push to change power unit rules for next year is blocked by manufacturers.

The FIA and F1 chiefs are trying to pull together a package of regulation tweaks that can move F1 away from a 50/50 power split between combustion and electrical power and towards 60/40.

But while teams unanimously agreed in principle to shift things for 2027 in a meeting that took place after the Miami Grand Prix, since then it has emerged that proposals put on the table do not have the necessary support from manufacturers to be voted through.

Mercedes and Red Bull are both understood to be in favour, but other manufacturers are more resistant to change before 2028.

It is understood Audi does not want to commit to a hardware revamp for next year on cost grounds, while Ferrari wants more time to evaluate the potential impact a change will have in terms of development potential and homologation. Cadillac and Honda also have separate reservations.

For the changes to go through, it requires four of the six carmakers to back it – with sources suggesting that key to the situation now could be in convincing Audi to change its mind and support some measures.

Time to get everything lined up is short though, because of the need for manufacturers to commit imminently to their 2027 designs.

And there is a big risk that if discussions drag on for too long then it could force a delay anyway because it will be too late for anyone to commit to revamping hardware.

For Stella, who is adamant that F1 would be in better shape if the notional 60/40 shift happens, there is an element of frustration about things potentially getting bogged down.

“This is a general interest that should prevail over the particular [self] interests, because if we don't have a good sport, if we don't preserve the value of the business, the value of F1, everyone will have a loss,” he said at the Canadian Grand Prix.

“So I do hope that the conversation ongoing will lead to a successful position because this will overcome, finally, some of the limitations that are fundamentally inherent to this hardware that we are using at the moment.”

Stella thinks that the ideas the FIA is talking about to make a 60/40 move possible in the short term are acceptable for teams, but ultimately he knows that the final decision will be made by manufacturers.

“I think this is a credible package and feasible, but the opinion I gave before was also as a stakeholder in F1,” he said. “I think this is the right thing to do for F1. 

"It's feasible from a chassis point of view, is the right thing from F1, and now it's really in the hands of the powerunit manufacturers.

“I hope that there will be the possibility to find a way of making this feasible, even from a powerunit point of view.”

The need for more

While tweaks to adjust the energy management of the current power units have worked in getting rid of some of the worst extremes of the 2026 rules, Stella thinks it would be wrong to believe that everything is working perfectly now.

He says that fundamental problems and drivers’ unhappiness remain – but are no longer being talked about because they are a constant.

“We just don't want to repeat ourselves,” he said. “But if I listen to the debrief , once again the drivers say I did such a good job in going on power so early out of corner seven, and so early out of corner nine, that I'm gaining in exit a little bit, and then the other car gains because he was slower going on power and now he has more deployment.

“I think this is something that we want to cure, and we have a possibility to do it in 2027.”