Mercedes will continue to have the most customer teams of any engine manufacturer in Formula 1 in 2026 – Why the number of customers is to be reduced in the future
At the start of the 2026 Formula 1 season in Melbourne, eight of the 22 cars will be powered by Mercedes engines – more than a third of the field. Mercedes itself is not entirely sure whether this is an advantage or a disadvantage.
Mercedes engine chief Hywel Thomas emphasizes that more cars mean more data and information can be collected. “The downside, however, is that we have to manufacture a lot of hardware and make some decisions earlier,” he explains.
In the Beyond The Grid podcast, he says: “I’m not even sure whether one team, two teams, three teams or four teams is the right number.” According to Thomas, there is a “sweet spot somewhere,” and it is “probably closer to four than to one.”
Next year, Mercedes will supply its own works team as well as customers McLaren, Williams and Alpine. Although Aston Martin has been lost as a customer team because the Silverstone-based racing team is joining forces with Honda, Alpine is joining as a new customer. So in 2026, Mercedes will still have three customer teams, the most in the field. Ferrari supplies Cadillac and Haas in addition to its own factory team, Red Bull only its two own teams, Audi only its own factory team, and Honda exclusively Aston Martin.
According to team boss Toto Wolff, Mercedes is therefore currently considering “reducing the number of teams we will supply in the next [regulation] cycle.” This is because too many customer teams would have the disadvantages already mentioned by Thomas.
For example, Mercedes would have to prepare 16 engines for the 2026 season opener, i.e., four per team. “That means longer lead times and longer production cycles,” said Wolff. Honda, on the other hand, would only have to prepare “four or five” engines for just one team.
Wolff announced that Mercedes therefore does not want to equip as many teams “in the future.” However, the Mercedes team boss has not yet specified the exact extent of this reduction.
He explains that this will also depend largely on what the next Formula 1 engine regulations will look like, which are expected to come into force in 2030.
