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F1 2027 engine shift could hurt Mercedes and disrupt team development, says Naomi Schiff

Naomi Schiff believes F1’s planned 2027 power unit changes could disrupt teams’ development timelines and potentially 'punish' Mercedes after its strong start

Lydia Mee

Published: May 17, 2026, 2:36 PM

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Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes

Photo by: Alastair Staley / LAT Images via Getty Images

Formula 1's planned shift to a 60:40 internal combustion to electrical power distribution in 2027 could 'punish' Mercedes, according to Sky Sports F1 analyst and former W Series driver Naomi Schiff.

The FIA has confirmed that changes to the engine hardware will be introduced in 2027. The goal is to make driving "more intuitive" via a 50kW decrease in electric power and an increase of 50kW from the internal combustion engine.

Speaking on the Up To Speed podcast, Schiff noted the complex political and technical ramifications of the planned changes.

"There are so many different factors to this, right? There's a political aspect of obviously Mercedes is out in the front, happy with their engines, happy with their performance, and I think some would say, 'Would this be punishing them in some way?' Because this could have been their era of domination yet again, but obviously there's a lot that's going to change.

"This battery is just not efficient enough, and so the drivers are having to manage and manage and manage and ultimately, if you do decide to go 60:40, there will be less battery management because the battery will last better. It'd be more efficient.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes

Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images

"But this means you need to burn more fuel, and more fuel means, for some, maybe not all, we don't know how lean the teams have gone with their fuel cells, but for some teams, it will mean that they need a new fuel cell. And a new fuel cell potentially means dramatic changes to the chassis.

"Teams will have already got pretty far into their designs for next year and almost in the process of building a car for the wind tunnel, which I think the deadline is usually around June for teams to get that car into a wind tunnel. So, do they just go back to the drawing board now? How do they stick to timelines?"

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