Mercedes Just Revived A Trick The FIA Banned And It Could Get Them Disqualified!

Описание: 🔴 George Russell and Kimi Antonelli did something strange at Silverstone. In the middle of their qualifying laps on a flying lap, where every tenth matters both Mercedes drivers deliberately lifted off the throttle before the timing line. Not a mistake. Not a setup issue. A calculated, precisely timed action they had spent weeks practicing in the simulator. And it made them faster.

Here is what actually happened. The 2026 rules require battery power to ramp down gradually at a maximum of 50kW per second as it depletes for safety. Mercedes found a separate regulatory allowance that bypasses this requirement entirely when the driver's power demand goes negative. So they run at full 350kW for as long as possible, then lift off before the battery hits zero — dropping instantly to zero in a single step the regulation permits. Result: 0.05 seconds per lap. Meaningful in a championship decided by eleven thousandths.

The disqualification risk is real. Lift too early lose the gain. Lift too late — battery hits zero, MGU-K cuts off instantly, ramp down rule breached. Penalty: exclusion from qualifying. Starting from the back of the grid. This is why Russell and Antonelli spent weeks in the simulator before committing to it at a race weekend. Mercedes' solution: an audible tone in the drivers' earpiece when the battery reaches a safe level to lift. Get the tone, lift, comply. Miss the tone — disqualification.

This is not the first time. Earlier this season Mercedes and Red Bull found the same gain through MGU-K emergency shutdowns. The FIA banned it after Japan cars were stopping on track managing battery state. Three months later, Mercedes brought it back through a completely different technical route. Same gain. Different door. Fully legal — but only if executed perfectly.
Andrea Stella said he was "surprised" watching the telemetry. Every rival is now deciding whether to run the same risk at Hungary — where the circuit layout makes the trick potentially even more powerful than Silverstone. The 2026 energy war just opened a new front. 🔔