Welcome to your Friday briefing, where we look at McLaren’s call for a power unit overhaul, a championship-winning driver locking in his future, and the manufacturer battle that could reshape MotoGP’s grid.
Here’s the latest:
Formula 1: Stella demands hardware changes to fix the 2026 formula
The Miami Grand Prix offered a slightly better showing under F1’s revised 2026 rules. However, Stella wants the sport to go further. He has called for larger batteries, higher fuel flow to the internal combustion engine, and bigger fuel tanks. He believes these hardware changes need to be finalised within two years.
Central to his argument is the question of deployment power. Stella has asked whether the current 350kW harvesting limit could be raised to 400kW or even 450kW. That would shift the energy balance away from the deployment, as cars spend less time harvesting energy than deploying it.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff holds a different view. He described the Miami race as “spectacular” and said anyone pushing for engine changes in the short term should question their own judgment. The disagreement between the two camps reflects how divided the paddock remains on the sport’s direction.
An FIA-team meeting is scheduled for today to assess how the Miami tweaks performed, particularly around qualifying energy limits and race deployment. But Stella’s intervention signals that the more significant debate has already moved to 2028 and beyond.
NASCAR: Blaney commits his future to Penske
Ryan Blaney, the 2023 Cup Series champion, has signed a long-term contract extension with Team Penske. Sponsor Menards will also continue as part of the renewed agreement. The deal removes one of the most sought-after names from the driver market before he ever reached it.
Blaney is 32 and has won 11 of his 18 career races since lifting the championship trophy. He sits fourth in the current Cup standings, with one win, three top-five finishes and seven top-10s across 11 races this season. Had he reached free agency, he would have been among the most coveted drivers available.
Team owner Roger Penske called Blaney “one of the elite drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series” and expressed belief that the No. 12 team would keep building. Blaney, for his part, said the organisation’s commitment to his career was “something a race car driver could only dream of.” The deal also secures Ford’s flagship Cup Series line-up for the foreseeable future.
IndyCar: Palou eyes a three-peat at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Alex Palou heads into tomorrow’s Sonsio Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course as both championship leader and defending race winner. The Chip Ganassi Racing driver leads the standings by 17 points over Kyle Kirkwood. He has won three of the last four editions of this race, including the past two consecutively.
IndyCar has also expanded its Push to Pass system this weekend, extending it to full-time use across all road and street courses. The move follows a software failure at Long Beach, where a message overload caused the system to shut down incorrectly during a restart. IndyCar tested the fix at the recent Indy Open Test and confirmed it worked as intended.
Josef Newgarden arrives at the Month of May carrying momentum of his own. He has won back-to-back oval races, with the streak stretching to last season’s Nashville finale. The two-time Indianapolis 500 winner has set his sights on a third victory when the race runs on 24 May.
MotoGP: Tech3’s manufacturer choice could reshape the 2027 grid
Practice is underway at Le Mans for the French Grand Prix. But the most consequential story in MotoGP this week is happening in the background. Tech3 is close to deciding whether to remain with KTM or move to Honda for the start of the 850cc era in 2027.
Guenther Steiner, the former Haas F1 team principal who now serves as Tech3’s CEO, is leading talks with Honda. The Japanese manufacturer wants to expand to six bikes on the grid, and Tech3 is its primary target after an earlier approach to Gresini did not progress. Team manager Nicolas Goyon has said rider signings are on hold until the manufacturer question is settled.
The stakes are significant for the wider rider market. If Tech3 stays with KTM, it could offer Brad Binder a route forward but would likely leave Luca Marini without a seat. A move to Honda would cut KTM’s grid presence to two factory bikes, an outcome that concerns MotoGP’s promoters.
Other motorsport snippets
- WEC: The FIA and ACO’s 2026 decision to stop publishing Balance of Performance data remains a point of contention. Ferrari’s WEC boss Antonello Coletta said that while teams must follow the rules, the change removes an important layer of storytelling from race weekends.
- WorldSBK: Nicolò Bulega’s run of wins continued at Balaton Park in Hungary, where the Aruba.it Ducati rider swept the round to extend his streak to 14 consecutive victories. The weekend carried a difficult note, however, with BMW’s Miguel Oliveira suffering multiple fractures. He will miss the next round at Most Autodrom, where Michael van der Mark will step in as his replacement.
- Formula E: Berlin delivered contrasting results across its two races. Nico Müller claimed a debut victory on Saturday, before Mitch Evans fought from 17th place to win on Sunday. The championship heads to Monaco next week for back-to-back races on 16 and 17 May.
