Mercedes is hiding its true potential: Former Ferrari engineer Luigi Mazzola warns the grid. Luigi Mazzola, former Ferrari engineer, analyzes the dominance of Mercedes’ W17.

Italian engineer Luigi Mazzola, who worked at Ferrari from 1988 to 2009, shared his thoughts with FormulaPassion.it on the superiority displayed by the Mercedes W17 driven by George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

Another Mercedes one-two

The Mercedes W17 is undeniably the car to beat in the early stages of the 2026 season. Russell and Antonelli secured the entire front row in qualifying and a one-two finish in both Australia and China—though in reversed positions. This dominance translates to a +31 advantage over Ferrari in the Constructors’ Championship, and an astonishing +80 over McLaren and +86 over Red Bull after just two race weekends.

FormulaPassion.it asked Luigi Mazzola, who spent 21 years at Maranello in various roles, including Technical Director of the test area during the Schumacher era, whether Mercedes is truly showing the full extent of its potential.

An intelligent masking strategy

The Italian websiteFormulaPassion.it: Engineer Luigi Mazzola, China essentially confirmed what we saw in Australia: Mercedes is the car to beat. Could the ADUO be decisive in Ferrari’s pursuit? Or is it possible that Mercedes is running “safely” without pushing its engine to the limit?

Luigi Mazzola: “It’s clear that the ADUO could be very important not only for Ferrari’s chase. It’s a necessary system if you want to maintain a certain balance in the championship and not see one team easily winning every race unless there are reliability issues.

As for Mercedes, I think they are running while masking the situation a little because it’s too easy for them to express performance when needed. They don’t struggle much. I believe they are smart enough not to show all their potential to avoid triggering some kind of Balance of Performance—even though it doesn’t exist in F1. However, they could find some clever way—intelligently, in my opinion—to hide a bit of what they can actually do.”

The challenge for the FIA will therefore be ensuring a competitive season without unfairly penalizing genuine engineering excellence. For the Tifosi, Luigi Mazzola’s warning shows that the “Red Hunt” for the 2026 title may be even more uphill than it looks. The focus now shifts to the high-speed sectors of Suzuka to see if the Silver Arrows continue to play this high-stakes game of technical hide-and-seek.