Toto Wolff fears Aston Martin's "Adrian Newey factor" in honest 2026 admission about Mercedes

Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff has expressed his concerns about them potentially facing stiff competition from Aston Martin in the 2026 F1 season. The Austrian is wary of the effect that Adrian Newey could have on the AMR challenger when the new technical regulations are implemented next year.

Mercedes is expected to be the top dog under the new regulations, with rival teams highlighting that the Brackley outfit could dominate F1 again as it did in the turbo-hybrid era, winning seven consecutive constructors' championships. However, successful performance comes at a cost - the teams ranking lower in the constructors' championship standings get more testing time in the wind tunnel to offset the disparity in performance.

Toto Wolff has highlighted how that could play against Mercedes, with the wind tunnel advantage gained by inferior teams compounding over some years.

"When in a championship you're as far back as Alpine at the moment, you get, I think, 30% more time in the wind tunnel. That accumulates over the years, so you have to be careful," the Austrian said via Motorsport Espana.

He also commented on the budget cap restrictions that were introduced in 2021, which aimed at leveling the playing field among teams and preventing teams with more spending power, like Mercedes, Red Bull, and McLaren, from gaining an unfair advantage.

Toto Wolff shared that Aston Martin, which will ring in the new technical era with F1's most successful designer, Adrian Newey, on board, could pose a risk to the Silver Arrows.

"(You can) put anyone under pressure with money, which for the big three teams had always been a kind of 'get out of jail free' card. That doesn't work anymore. And we're not even talking about Honda and Aston Martin, with a lot of time in the wind tunnel and with the Adrian Newey factor. The way Formula 1 is today, with the regulations in place, anyone can succeed," Wolff added.

Newey joined Aston Martin as a Managing Technical Partner in 2025 after leaving Red Bull in 2024, concluding a 19-year stint. AMR's lead driver, Fernando Alonso, recently showered praise on the Briton's unparalleled "self-confidence," and called him "more of an artist than an engineer."

FIA chief debunks Toto Wolff's bold claim about the 2026 F1 cars

Andrew Shovlin with Toto Wolff at the 2025 F1 Belgian Grand Prix Qualifying - Source: Getty

In August, Toto Wolff claimed that F1 cars could hit speeds of 400 kilometers per hour under the new regulations. His comments caused a stir in the F1 world, with drivers like Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen joking that it might be the supreme Mercedes power units that could facilitate that.

Wolff later clarified his comments, emphasizing that he said it "semi-sarcastically" to counteract the criticism surrounding the 2026 F1 power unit regs. In a recent interview with PlanetF1, director of single-seater development at the FIA, Nikolas Tombazis, debunked the 400 kmph claim, saying:

"I can assure you there won’t be speeds of 400km/h. From what I heard, he meant to say that with the power the cars have and with the low resistance the cars have, you could conceivably, if you combine everything together, have cars going over that speed. The way all the energy management regulations work, that is not possible, physically or engineering-wise."

Toto Wolff has yet to finalize contract negotiations with Andrea Kimi Antonelli and George Russell for 2026, with both Mercedes seats provisionally up for grabs.