Wolff plays down 2026 hype: ‘Rumor mills are always dangerous'

With Formula 1’s most dramatic rules reset in over a decade just around the corner, Mercedes has found itself in an unexpectedly familiar position: tipped as the team to beat.

But if you ask Toto Wolff, the Brackley squad isn’t buying into the hype – and definitely isn’t curling up with preseason predictions like bedtime stories.

Speaking on F1’s Beyond The Grid podcast, the Mercedes team principal made it clear that early-season whispers aren’t doing anything to inflate his confidence. Quite the opposite.

“Never confident,” Wolff said when asked how he reacts to being labelled the pre-season favourite. “We are glass half-empty people never half-full.”

‘The Enemy in the House’ and Why Nothing Is Guaranteed

Mercedes famously mastered the last major regulatory overhaul in 2014, launching an era of dominance that redefined the sport. But Wolff insists that history is no guarantee for what comes next.

“It starts with the enemy in the house,” the Austrian explained.

“McLaren has been the better team this year with a Mercedes power unit, so if the power unit were to be superior, which we never feel entitled to say, then you have got to beat Williams, McLaren and Alpine.”

He also stressed that other teams may exploit advantages Mercedes simply doesn’t have.

“As a matter of fact, some of them will have had more development time in the wind tunnel because they’ve not been placed very well in the constructors’ championship. Some will come with innovation that maybe we haven’t spotted, etc, etc.”

And even if Mercedes really has nailed its new hybrid system – something Wolff refuses to assume – he says the gossip itself can trigger a dangerous dynamic.

“So you cannot take anything for granted, even if the Mercedes power unit was the strongest,” he continued.

“On top of that, these rumour mills are always dangerous because someone, somewhere in another team, or another power unit manufacturer, or fuel supplier, will think ‘well we like to position you guys in a favourite role, but we are coming’.

“That’s why we are not getting carried away by any gossip that’s being discussed at the hairdressers.”

Thomas: Loopholes Are Possible – and Everyone Is Nervous

Mercedes’ engine chief Hywel Thomas echoed Wolff’s caution, admitting that even though the 2026 rulebook was crafted to avoid runaway advantages, there’s no way to be certain no team has unearthed something game-changing.

“Always possible, definitely always possible,” he said. “Although the regulation set was put together very much in a way to try and avoid that, so there are some constraints on there that do constrain you to certain ways of doing things.”

But constraints or not, creativity can’t be legislated out of F1.

“If that’s gone well, less likely that someone is going to have stolen a march. But whose to say someone hasn’t found a loophole, hasn’t found an amazing thing that nobody has,” added the British engineer.

Thomas admitted that the final weeks before a new season – especially one involving a major rules overhaul – are always filled with anxiety.

“There hasn’t been a season, where in December we haven’t been thinking ‘we haven’t got enough power, we haven’t got enough reliability, and the way that we interact everything isn’t good enough and we’ve got three months to fix it all.

“Perhaps this season [2025] was the first season I didn’t feel like that, with the current PU. But there’s generally always been something that catches you out, right at the last minute.”

Four Teams, Four Data Streams – and One Big Question

In 2026, Mercedes will supply engines to McLaren, Williams and Alpine – three customers on top of its own factory team. That brings benefits and drawbacks, Thomas explained.

“I think, as we’ve shown in the past, having more than one team, you are getting more data, you are getting more information, you are getting more kilometres.

“You’ve got all those cars, you’ve got four times as many engineers, all sitting around telling you ‘you can do this better, you can do this more this way’. That is very, very beneficial…”

• Read also: Mercedes lift the lid on 2026 with prototype wing test

But supplying the whole neighbourhood has its costs.

“But the flip of that is we have got to make a lot of hardware and we’ve got to make a few decisions earlier… That is the flip.”

For now, Mercedes is keeping expectations tight – and the rumour mill at arm’s length. Whether caution proves justified or simply strategic modesty will be revealed when the 2026 era roars to life.

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