'Helping Mercedes': Juan Montoya claims new F1 rules sabotage Ferrari’s advantage ahead of Miami GP

Former Formula One driver Juan Pablo Montoya contends that impending revisions to power unit regulations, debuting at next weekend’s Miami Grand Prix, will neutralise a primary competitive advantage for Ferrari while bolstering teams utilising Mercedes engines.

The regulatory adjustments at the Miami International Autodrome follow a consensus reached by the FIA, FOM, drivers, and teams. The amendments are designed to enhance safety protocols, reduce the reliance on artificial overtaking manoeuvres, and ensure that qualifying sessions push the technical limits of the vehicles.

Addressing Start-Line Safety

A central component of the new rules targets race starts, which have been plagued by hazardous incidents during the 2026 season. During the opening race in Australia, Franco Colapinto narrowly avoided a major collision when Liam Lawson’s car failed to accelerate effectively off the line.

Starting in Miami, a new mechanism will provide a "push" to vehicles experiencing difficulty during the initial launch. This system triggers an early release of electrical energy from the MGU-K to assist the car in gaining velocity, a move intended to minimise the likelihood of rear-end catastrophes at the start of a race.

Winners and Losers of the Shift

Montoya, speaking on the MontoyAS podcast, argued that the intervention will disproportionately impact the current hierarchy of power units. He noted that Ferrari has excelled with electric starts this year, whereas Mercedes-powered cars have frequently struggled to get off the line.

"Personally, I think the changes at the starts, and how they are going to adjust the energy at the starts, are going to help Mercedes," Montoya stated. "It removes a disadvantage they had — and not just Mercedes as a team, but all the cars with a Mercedes engine. So not the team itself, but the power source."

The veteran racer observed that while Red Bull’s launches have been inconsistent, the Mercedes fleet has been notably weak in the opening seconds of races. According to Montoya, the new assistance system essentially penalises the technical efficiency Ferrari has displayed thus far.

"If you look at the starts of most of the Mercedes cars, they were not strong," Montoya said. "And Red Bull's starts were often not good, either — or not bad, but inconsistent. And this takes away a bit of the advantage from Ferrari in the opening stages."

With inputs from RacingNews365