Patrese: “Mercedes and Red Bull are perfectly legal, the FIA ​​must not penalize them”

The opinion of the former driver The eve of the 2026 F1 World Championship is and will be troubled by the issue linked to the compression ratio of the thermal V6 engine. In fact, according to rumors, Mercedes has found a way to increase the compression ratio when the power unit is in operation and then falls within the parameters set by the ‘cold’ regulation when the findings are carried out by the FIA ​​delegates. According to Riccardo Patrese, Mercedes (and Red Bull if and when they manage to make this ploy work) have not violated the regulations and the FIA must not penalize them: “Mercedes and Red Bull are operating perfectly in compliance with the rules, which establish that the compression ratio must be 16:1 when cold – said Patrese reached by BetVictor Online Casino – it seems that they have developed engines that exploit thermal expansion to reach a higher and more powerful compression ratio, equal to 18:1. They have a material that can improve compression. So congratulations to the engineers for coming up with this idea, now we’ll see what happens, because obviously others are not happy with it, Formula 1 has had these kinds of problems, they’ve done a good job of finding the material that makes this work. “It’s difficult to say for sure what the advantage could be – added Patrese – just because Mercedes and Red Bull have been very intelligent, they shouldn’t be penalized by the FIA ​​for this. This is what I think. From my point of view, this is what F1 should be and always has been. It’s about having good ideas to stay in front. That’s fine with me. It’s not that they’re cheating. They just had a brilliant idea on how to make the engine work better.”