Ferrari might be publicly preaching patience while the FIA works through the “compression ratio” controversy, but the paddock noise suggests Maranello has already started planning for a world in which the trick survives.
Over the winter, persistent talk has centred on a quirk in how the new power unit rules police compression ratio. Under the 2026 regulations the ratio is capped at 16.0, down from 18.0 previously, but the key detail is when and how it’s measured. With the ratio checked when the engine isn’t at peak operating temperature, rivals believe at least two manufacturers — widely linked in the chatter to Mercedes and Red Bull Powertrains — have found a way to effectively run closer to 18.0 once everything is hot and the car is actually on track.
If that’s accurate, it’s not a marginal gain. The figure being thrown around in the background is up to three tenths per lap through performance and fuel-efficiency benefits, which in a fresh-regulation year is the difference between “nice idea” and “season-defining”.
It’s also why the political temperature has risen so quickly with the Australian Grand Prix looming on March 8. Several meetings have already taken place between the FIA and “technical experts”, with the Power Unit Advisory Committee (PUAC) also convening last Thursday. The push from Mercedes’ rivals is simple: change the measurement regime now, either by monitoring on-track via sensors or by measuring in the garage once the power unit is at operating temperature. Shut the door before anyone gets to cash in.
And yet, amid the complaints, there’s a more telling subplot: the idea that Ferrari isn’t just hoping the FIA will intervene — it’s preparing for the opposite outcome.
Italian journalist Leo Turrini has reported that Enrico Gualtieri, Ferrari’s power unit technical director, is already deep into work on the team’s 2027 engine and that the concept includes “substantial modifications” intended to create a dynamic compression ratio in the same spirit as the Mercedes approach. The expectation inside Ferrari, per that report, is that the solution will ultimately be deemed legal “in all respects”.
In other words, if you can’t be sure the rule-makers will stop it, the safest play may be to ensure you’re not the only one leaving lap time on the table.
The alleged engineering route is wonderfully old-school in its logic: a new connecting rod designed with a sufficiently high thermal expansion coefficient so that, as temperatures rise, it lengthens and offsets the loss of compression that would normally come with heat-related expansion elsewhere in the system. It’s the kind of idea that lives in the grey area F1 has always loved — where “letter of the law” and “spirit of the law” are left to fight it out in committee rooms.
The timing matters too. Turrini adds that Ferrari’s 2027-spec engine won’t be on the dyno before summer due to “production timing issues”. That hints at either a late pivot in the concept direction, or the reality that even a giant like Ferrari can’t just snap its fingers when a regulations debate suddenly changes the development priorities.
When Ferrari launched its 2026 car on January 23, Gualtieri struck a careful, diplomatic tone about the compression ratio saga, making it clear Ferrari is engaged with the FIA and expects a resolution through the proper channels.
“We are approaching the topic together with the FIA. We are still discussing with them,” he said. “We had a meeting, a technical meeting, a technical workshop yesterday, actually, and we are going to have additional one in the next days, up to the PUAC meeting.
“So we are approaching the topic together with them. We are certainly trusting them for managing the topic in the proper way… and we completely trust that the process could come to an end in the next days and weeks.”
It’s a neat balancing act: talk up governance, avoid fanning the flames, but keep your engineering options open. Ferrari knows how these stories end. Sometimes the FIA closes the loophole quickly. Sometimes it doesn’t — and then the “clever” solution becomes the new baseline everyone copies until it’s banned later. Mercedes’ Dual Axis Steering in 2020 remains the modern template: discussed with the FIA, raced, then legislated away for the following season.
The irony is that Ferrari’s own 2026 engine is already rumoured to be unconventional, with talk that the team has gone for steel cylinder heads rather than aluminium. The claim is that the heavier choice has delivered more efficient combustion, with unprecedented temperatures and pressures at ignition, and that Ferrari spent the winter shoring up reliability to make it viable. In Barcelona’s shakedown last month, Ferrari logged 442 laps — the second-highest total — and its power unit was also second in overall lap count, with 992 laps completed across Ferrari, Haas and Cadillac compared to Mercedes’ 1,136.
So Ferrari doesn’t exactly look like an outfit short on power unit ambition right now. But there’s a difference between being innovative and being exposed. If a compression ratio interpretation becomes a defining performance differentiator in 2026, nobody wants to spend the year arguing about “fairness” while watching the stopwatch bleed.
Red Bull’s position could be the hinge. It’s believed Red Bull Powertrains has access to a similar idea to Mercedes but may not have extracted the same benefit, which would make it more likely to support a clampdown rather than defend the status quo. Under PUAC governance, an immediate and significant change needs support from four of the five power unit manufacturers, plus the FIA and FOM. If Red Bull, Ferrari, Audi and Honda align, Mercedes could find itself leaning heavily on the FIA and FOM to prevent a late measurement rewrite.
Toto Wolff, never one to let a good political scrap go to waste, has already confirmed Mercedes has had “very positive” dialogue with the FIA during its 2026 engine development — and accused rivals of hunting excuses before the season even starts, telling them to “get your s**t together.”
That, more than anything, tells you how high the stakes feel inside Brackley. Teams don’t speak like that when they think they’re about to lose.
For Ferrari, the smartest move may simply be the most pragmatic: keep pushing for clarity, but assume nothing. Because if the FIA doesn’t slam the door, the only thing worse than a clever interpretation existing… is being the one major manufacturer that refused to build it.
