Sainz says PU makers are blocking F1 rule changes

Carlos Sainz says Formula 1’s effort to make bigger future power-unit rule changes is being held up not by the technical problem itself, but by teams and manufacturers protecting their own advantage behind the scenes.

Speaking to RacingNews365, the Williams driver and GPDA director said political alignment, rather than engineering consensus, is the main barrier to further action beyond the tweaks already approved for Miami. “It is just getting all the teams aligned politically to agree, which is what is holding everything back,” Sainz said. “Clearly, there is a lot of political interest, people have done better homework than others in different areas, and they don't want to lose their performance advantage because of rule changes.”

F1 did make interim changes during the April break after concerns over superclipping, with the package for the Miami Grand Prix raising superclipping to 350kW and cutting total energy deployment to 7 MJ from 8 MJ. But the wider debate over 2027 remains unresolved, with discussion centered on changing the planned 2026 50-50 split between electric and internal-combustion power.

Sainz argued that power-unit manufacturers carry too much influence in that process. “Especially the PU manufacturers are going to fight like hell for their own interests,” he said. “For sure, if the FIA would say: ‘This is what it is [going to happen],’ I am pretty sure most of the teams could do it; it is just that there are strings attached and they're pulling strings everywhere.”

That helps explain why the discussion has moved slowly. Any major revision has to pass through the Power Unit Advisory Committee by supermajority, which means backing from the FIA, Formula 1 and four of the five manufacturers: Mercedes HPP, Ferrari, Honda, Audi and Red Bull Powertrains. McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has already said he argued for more substantial changes to be delayed until 2028.

Sainz made clear he still wants the sport to move sooner. From the GPDA side, he said he would push for major changes in 2027, even though Williams uses Mercedes power and could have something to lose if the current competitive order is disturbed. “I have a Mercedes PU, and I could be very opposed to changing too much the advantage of Mercedes and Red Bull with their engine, but for the good of the sport, I would still make plenty of changes for 2027 if I could and was at the top.”