Despite a total reset of Formula 1's regulations ahead of the 2026 season, reigning champions McLaren appear to be entering the sport's new era with more confidence than their expected main rivals.

The new technical regulations aren't coming at an ideal time for McLaren, after the Woking squad retained the Constructors' Championship in dominant fashion in 2025 while Lando Norris sealed the team's first Drivers' Championship since 2008.

Major changes to power units, chassis and aerodynamic rules make the 2026 pecking order almost impossible to predict, but most would expect the might of the 2025 top four - McLaren, Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari - to ensure they remain towards the front of the grid.

The changes mean that there is more testing than usual, with the first of three events taking place at the end of January in Barcelona before two further tests follow in Bahrain in February.

With all 24 rounds of the season live on Sky Sports F1, the serious action begins in Australia from March 6-8.

As the 2025 season concluded in Abu Dhabi in early December, each 'big four' team principal was quizzed following the final race about their hopes and expectations amid the biggest technical changes in the sport's history.

Wolff 'never confident' despite possible engine advantage

Paddock gossip over the last year or so has suggested something of a consensus that Mercedes could steal a march on the rest of the field as a result of having their new engine better developed than their rivals.

It will also be used by McLaren, Williams and Alpine, theoretically giving those squads an opportunity to capitalise.

Along with whispers from those working at factories, confidence in Mercedes is also based upon the success they had the last time new engines were introduced in 2014, after which the Silver Arrows won eight successive constructors' titles.

However, after a bruising four years of the ground effect era, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is not expecting a repeat of the dominance his team enjoyed in 2014.

"It's not comparable," he said. "The grid is just much more competitive than it was in previous years."

Pressed on whether Mercedes' recent failings on the aerodynamic side have left him confident of a return to glory, Wolff added: "I'm never confident. I'm a glass half-empty person.

"We just do everything we can, that is in our power, to come out with a car, with a power unit that is competitive enough to fight for a world championship.

"It's super difficult to predict because we set ourselves targets that we are on track to meet, but whether those targets were set ambitiously enough and whether those targets have been set in the right place, in terms of priorities, only the future will show."

Ferrari confidence dented by dismal 2025?

Ferrari endured an even more disappointing 2025 season than Mercedes, finishing a winless campaign fourth in the constructors' standings having begun the year expecting to be McLaren's main rival for titles.

Lewis Hamilton was driven to the point of despair as he ended an F1 season without a grand prix podium for the first time in his legendary career.

Fred Vasseur, who took over as Ferrari team principal at the start of 2023, was notably buoyant ahead of the last two seasons as he made it clear his target was ending at trophy drought that stretches back to 2008.

It was therefore equally notable that his confidence in the project appears to have been somewhat dented, with even the fact that Ferrari shut down development of their 2025 car early to switch attention to 2026 failing to provide major reassurance.

Asked about his expectations for 2026, Vasseur replied: "This I have no clue about. You know perfectly that our sport is a comparison. I can do a good job, if someone did a better job I look stupid.

"We are focused on our project, we are developing our project, we are pushing at the limit, and we are trying to do our best. For sure, the more time you are spending on the project, the better you will be.

"But I don't know if McLaren, Red Bull or Alpine is in front of us. This nobody knows, and I think the most important is not to spend time to try to understand if the others are in front or behind."

Vasseur also warned against overreacting to the results of the first race in Australia.

"It will be a lot about development and capacity of quick development," he said. "The season won't be over in Australia. It doesn't matter if we are P1 or P10. It will be a long way to the end for everyone."

Red Bull ready for 'tough months' amid engine concerns

In contrast to Mercedes and Ferrari, Red Bull ended the season on the front foot as Max Verstappen almost spectacularly chased down Norris in the title battle by winning the last three races.

Laurent Mekies appears to have had a hugely positive impact since replacing Christian Horner as team principal in July, but further progress under the Frenchman's leadership may be halted by a major handicap.

Red Bull are producing their own engine - with support from American car giant Ford - for the first time in the team's history, creating a challenge that Mekies spoke candidly about in Abu Dhabi.

"It was a crazy call (to manufacture an engine), probably a call that only Red Bull can make," Mekies said. "We started on this field, we now have a building, we have the 600 people, and we will try to fight against people that have been doing it for 90 years.

"We love the challenge, we love that idea. It's very Red Bull - very proud to do it with Ford. It would be naive to think that we are going to land it on the top spot straight away there.

"So, we know we are going to have a few very, very tough months, many sleepless nights, a few headaches, but it's also part of the privilege to be associated with these sorts of challenges."

All-star technical team has Stella 'optimistic' for 2026

McLaren produced a remarkable turnaround during the ground-effect era, recovering from a dismal start to the 2023 season to finish with titles in 2024 and 2025.

Few in the sport believed such a transformation within a rules set was possible, but Andrea Stella's promotion to team principal in December 2022 proved to be an inspirational appointment.

The Italian, who is almost always extremely measured and considered with his words, of course shares the sentiment expressed by his counterparts that it's impossible to predict where each team will end up this year.

However, compared to their comments, it was notable that he was willing to express optimism over where McLaren will end up in 2026, with his positive feelings largely inspired by the all-star technical team he has assembled.

"The technical team ultimately conceived, designed, developed a car that from being ninth or 10th best car at the start of 2023, it was one of the best cars at the end of 2023, and then it became gradually the best car definitely in the first part of 2025," Stella said.

"I think this is one of the strongest technical departments that I could have been part in my career, 26 years in Formula 1.

"And this means that while the specifics of the current regulations will not necessarily apply on to the future, the working way, the standards, the approach to the development of the car to the objectives from a technical point of view, they do carry into the future and this makes us optimistic for the 2026 season."

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