Wolff confirms Mercedes W16 upgrade status as F1 2026 reset beckons

Toto Wolff has confirmed there are “no more upgrades” to come on the Mercedes W16 in F1 2025 with the team placing its full focus on next season.

Significant regulation changes are on the horizon in Formula 1, with both the chassis and power unit regulations in the sport set to change at the same time in F1 2026.

Toto Wolff: ‘No more upgrades’ as Mercedes shifts full focus

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Mercedes, like the rest of the field, will be looking to hit the ground running in a new regulatory era for Formula 1, with a reset on the current pecking order as all-new cars head into production.

Team representative Bradley Lord recently told PlanetF1.com about the expectation that Mercedes and its rivals will be turning attention to 2026, expecting teams’ declarations of significant upgrades to slow after the summer break.

“Obviously, every team development-wise is looking at 2026, and I think we’ll see very little on the Friday declarations in terms of new parts apart from circuit-specific wings and things like that in the second half of the season,” Lord explained.

“So that’s going to be a much lighter document than maybe it would be in a more normal season without the big change that’s coming.

“I think that’s going to be true for every team and is only logical. But that doesn’t mean we stop learning just because we haven’t got aerodynamic performance or upgrades coming to the car.”

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Work is ongoing behind the scenes at Mercedes to not only optimise its 2026 car, but to create the best power unit possible for itself and its customer teams, with the team’s High Performance Powertrains division working on an all-new power unit that is set for a more equal split between electronic and internal combustion power.

With a look ahead to the future in mind, team principal Wolff confirmed the team is set to maximise its current package over the remainder of the season.

“No, there’s no more upgrades,” Wolff told media including PlanetF1.com in Hungary.

“I think everything is completely focused and concentrated on next year.

“We know that we have a more stable platform that’s going to give us some goodness, I think let’s see how we can optimise tracks and engineering in terms of finding the right setups that suit it, and aim to be as competitive as we can.”

Mercedes will enter the second half of the current Formula 1 season third in the Constructors’ Championship, 24 points behind second-placed Ferrari.

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