McLaren Boss Andrea Stella Calls for F1 Power Unit Hardware Changes by 2028

Formula 1 recently agreed on a first set of refinements to improve the qualifying spectacle and reduce the extreme closing speeds seen over the first few races of the 2026 rules era. Last weekend's Miami Grand Prix was the first run under the tweaked ruleset and looked to bring modest improvements, with the jury still out on the exact impact of changes to the energy management until F1 heads to more energy-starved circuits later this spring.

Stella Calls for Hardware Adjustments

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella, whose team uses Mercedes customer engines, says an increase in fuel flow and a move to bigger batteries is required to fix the current formula, but acknowledged it would be difficult to push through for 2027.

"Hardware adjustments to the power unit in order to improve Formula 1 in general, I personally think are required," Stella said.

"They will have to do realistically with the fuel flow to increase the power from the internal combustion engine. I think they might have to do with harvesting more power than the power you actually deploy, because you spend much more time deploying electrical power, rather than harvesting it. This can be rebalanced by harvesting to a larger power than we do today. From 350kW, can we go to 400kW, can we go to 450kW? And then I think we just need bigger batteries."

Stella highlighted the logistical challenges for power unit manufacturers, noting that the implications for battery size and coping with higher fuel flow normally require a longer lead time than what is available for the 2027 season.

He is hoping for F1 stakeholders to finalise discussions ahead of the summer break to give manufacturers enough time to put them in practice for the 2028 season. "I would urge that possibly this conversation needs to be finalised before the summer break to be in time to do it for 2028," he added.

"Definitely, I would hope that that's the case, because while we have done a good job as an F1 community of looking constantly at improving the exploitation of the engine with what's available, I think we can extract more out of these regulations, but this will need some hardware tweak."

Mercedes and Alpine Weigh In

Mercedes F1 chief Toto Wolff said he would not be opposed to minor tweaks to improve the spectacle, but argued the series is already in a good place right now. Indeed, Wolff has fiercely defended the 2026 Formula 1 regulations following the Miami Grand Prix.

"Whoever talks about changing engine regs in the short term should question his way of assessing Formula 1 at that stage," Wolff said after the Miami GP. "A spectacular race. Fight for the lead, fight in the midfield. And it's splendid."

"Can we tweak it and optimise it in the mid-term? I think absolutely. We would never be against making the show even better. I'm thinking about Straight Mode. I think we need much more straightline speed with the straightline modes. We need to be courageous in doing that."

"Whether we could extract a bit more performance out of the ICE… Great, give us enough lead time so we can actually do it."

The Chassis Dilemma

When asked when teams need to know what 2027's technical regulations will be, Alpine team boss Steve Nielsen replied: "Now... More fuel means bigger a fuel tank, means a different chassis. And not every team will be planning to make a new chassis for next year, because with the budget cap you spend your money where the most performance is."

"It may not be that a new chassis is where the most performance is. But, of course, if your fuel tank's not big enough to take 10 or 20 extra litres, you'd have to do it and you'd have to know that. Very simple."

"We've seen a lot of regulation changes in the last few weeks. I hope it calms down a bit. But our ability to react will be stretched if we start getting major changes in the next few months, for next year."