F1 Beyond The Grid Toto Wolff + Hywel Thomas: racing towards 2026
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Dec 10, 2025 
Toto Wolff, the strategic genius behind Mercedes F1, is joined by Hywel Thomas, Managing Director of Mercedes-AMG High Performance Powertrains. They dive into the thrilling changes coming in 2026, including new power units and sustainable fuels. Hear their insights on the challenges of energy management and the need for drivers to enhance their skills. They reflect on George Russell's growth and Kimi Antonelli's rookie journey while expressing a mix of excitement and nerves about the upcoming season, calling it a transformative era for F1.
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Driver-Energy Interaction Is The Big Change
- The 2026 regs are less about inventing new hardware and more about integrating existing electric components into an F1 framework.
- The bigger challenge will be driver-energy interaction and race strategies, not pure hardware invention.
Plan Energy Deployment Before The Race
- Prepare engineers and drivers for far more pre-race coordination around energy deployment and race plans.
- Use extensive simulation and rehearsal to decide when to deploy limited electrical energy for attack or defence.
Sustainable Fuel Could Shift Early Performance
- Sustainable fuel is a major unknown and could offer early performance differences between teams.
- Fuel regs have shifted closer to road-fuel constraints, forcing manufacturers to rethink formulations and performance trade-offs.