Mansell on new regulations: “I wish they brought the V10 engines back!”

The 2025 F1 season has resumed after the summer break with McLaren powering to yet another one-two finish at Spa, with Oscar Piastri winning the Belgian Grand Prix and Lando Norris finishing second. Piastri has a 16-point lead over Norris in the Drivers’ standings and the two are expected to duke it out for the World Drivers’ Championship as Max Verstappen is 65 points behind Norris.

The McLaren car has been so dominant this season, they are only 8/15 for them both to get a podium finish in Hungary. A quick play with our bet calculator will show you how likely that will be and the consensus is that unless there is a massive capitulation, McLaren will be coasting to both the Constructors’ and Drivers’ title this season.

Rival teams will be hoping that the new regulations will shake up things and change their fortunes in 2026. We sat down with 1992 F1 World Champion Nigel Mansell to discuss what impact the new regulations could make.

So many regulations for 2026, it’s incredible

Mansell starts off by remarking on the number of regulations that are to kick in in 2026, saying that it will take a crystal ball to predict what their impact will be. He goes back to Max Verstappen’s comments on the same, where the Dutchman said that the only way to know who’s got the best package is when the teams turn up for the first race in Australia.

"It's an incredible question and if you've got a crystal ball, you can make a lot of money."

"To throw so many regulations for 2026, nobody will know what's in store. I think Max said it the best, until you turn up for the first race in Australia, no one will really know who's got the best package."

Mercedes should adapt well to the new regulations

Mansell sees Mercedes and Toto Wolff adapting well to the new regulations and he credits their power unit as being a deciding factor there.

"One thing we do know is that Mercedes will have a fantastic package with the engine and the power packside. The engine's gonna provide 50% of the power and the other, 50% of the power."

"It's a tall order. Big changes for one year, like there's no tomorrow."

The former Williams and Ferrari driver backs Aston Martin to come out strong as they have Adrian Newey. About his former team Ferrari, he’s unsure if they can get the formula right.

"And you can throw in Adrian Newey in there with Aston Martin. They can come out of the box really strong."

"Ferrari, who knows? If they get the formula right? Any team that can get the formula right can dominate in the first year. It's fascinating. A little bit worrying, but fascinating."

He also wishes that the FIA would have just reverted back to the V10 engines as in his view, they led to some fantastic racing.

"I wish they had chucked all of these things away and gone back to the V10 engines. They're beautiful and gave us fantastic racing."

Lando or Oscar? Read who Mansell thinks will become the new champion