Ferrari’s one advantage over Mercedes in this year’s championship has been wiped out by Formula 1’s revised engine regulations, says Juan Pablo Montoya.

That relates to the race starts.

Juan Pablo Montoya explains FIA engine changes remove Ferrari start advantage over Mercedes

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Ferrari’s power unit has had the edge over its rivals off the line, which was evident already in pre-season testing.

While rival teams were bogged down, Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc blasted their way through to make up several positions during practice starts in testing.

It’s a trend that continued in the opening grands prix of the F1 2026 season.

And it was Ferrari‘s one advantage over Mercedes.

George Russell began the Australian Grand Prix from pole position but lost out to Leclerc into Turn 1, while Hamilton took the early lead from Kimi Antonelli in China. Leclerc again overhauled the pole-sitter, Antonelli, in Japan – although that time he was only second behind Oscar Piastri.

Although Ferrari has not revealed its secret, Russell put it down to the team running a smaller turbo.

But while Ferrari has made epic starts, behind them there have been a few near misses. Most notably, Liam Lawson versus Franco Colapinto in Australia.

Lawson failed to get off the line while Colapinto behind him made a normal start. He missed Lawson by millimetres in what would’ve been a huge crash.

The launch issue relates to Formula 1’s decision to remove the MGU-H from this year new engines, making it harder for drivers to spool up the turbo.

Colapinto said: “I was really, really lucky. [These are] things that can happen with these new cars, but it was just very dangerous and quite sketchy.”

Given the safety aspect, the FIA, Formula One Management, the team bosses and the power unit manufacturers have agreed to make changes to the engine management at the starts, changes that come into effect at the Miami Grand Prix.

The FIA statement read:

‘Race starts – enhanced safety mechanisms:

‘A new “low power start detection” system has been developed, capable of identifying cars with abnormally low acceleration shortly after clutch release.

‘In such cases, an automatic MGU-K deployment will be triggered to ensure a minimum level of acceleration and mitigate start-related risks without introducing any sporting advantage.

‘An associated visual warning system is being introduced, activating flashing lights (rear and lateral) on affected cars to alert following drivers.

‘A reset of the energy counter at the start of the formation lap has also been implemented to correct a previously identified system inconsistency.’

But according to former F1 driver Montoya, those changes have negated Ferrari’s sole advantage over Mercedes.

“Personally,” he told AS Colombia, “I think the changes at the starts, and how they are going to adjust the energy at the starts, is going to help Mercedes.

“It removes a disadvantage they had.

“And not just Mercedes as a team, but all cars with a Mercedes engine. So not the team itself, but the power unit.

“If you look at the starts of most Mercedes cars, they weren’t strong. And Red Bull’s starts were often not good either, or not bad, but inconsistent. And this takes away a bit of an advantage from Ferrari in the opening phase.”

Ferrari has been the second-best team on the track this season, lagging behind Mercedes in all but starts, which has led to thrilling opening laps but no victories.

Ferrari trails Mercedes by 45 points in the Constructors’ Championship while Charles Leclerc, P3 in the Drivers’ standings, is 23 points behind Kimi Antonelli.

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