Juan Pablo Montoya expects an “explosion” at the front of the Formula 1 field in 2027 now that Mercedes are no longer dominant, and Ferrari may yet be the team to beat.

Mercedes flew out of the gates with Andrea Kimi Antonelli and George Russell in 2026, after the Silver Arrows aced their initial concept for F1’s new engine, aero and chassis regulations.

The early lead that Antonelli built through the first six rounds of the season has even helped to put him on the cusp of making history, with the 20-year-old now on course to become the youngest-ever F1 champion. Antonelli led Ferrari ace Lewis Hamilton by 66 points at the top of the standings after the Monaco Grand Prix, and now edges Russell by 102 after 17 rounds.

Juan Pablo Montoya thinks Ferrari can win the 2027 F1 title with a more powerful engine

Mercedes were unbeatable through most of the early rounds, with Antonelli even recording five successive Grand Prix wins to open his career account. Hamilton ended the Italian’s run with his first win for Ferrari in Barcelona, while Charles Leclerc gifted Ferrari their only other win in Britain. McLaren’s Lando Norris and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen have scored two wins.

Given the state of play ahead of round 18/23 in the United States this weekend, Montoya is confident that F1 will not see one team dominate like Mercedes have next season. And the Colombian even feels that Ferrari may climb to the top if they can give Hamilton and Leclerc a more powerful engine, as that has been the biggest drawback with the SF-26 this season.

Montoya told AS: “What’s happening, apart from this year, let’s just say this year was all about Mercedes from start to finish, and right now things are getting really interesting, is that next year is going to be an explosion.

“Next year, I’d back Ferrari. I’d back Ferrari. Ferrari lack power, but they’re not far off, and there’s room for them to improve their power output.

“The Ferrari is a better car to drive than the Red Bull, but the Red Bull is the one that maximises its power at the moment. So, Ferrari still has one or two per cent to improve on the engine.”

It is now said that Ferrari’s 2026 F1 rules engine is worse than Audi’s power unit, as the ICE in the SF-26 is actually less powerful than the first-ever F1 internal combustion engine that Audi built. Audi joined the F1 grid this year and even immediately joined with a factory PU.

Red Bull have the most powerful ICE in F1, at least according to the FIA, having twice been ruled through ADUO to be the class leaders. The FIA believes Mercedes’ ICE is 2-4% worse than the first-ever ICE built by Red Bull Powertrains, ahead of Ferrari, Audi and Honda who are each lacking at least 4% of the power that Verstappen and Isack Hadjar have available.

As a result, Mercedes can introduce one engine upgrade this year and one next year, while Ferrari, Audi and Honda can introduce two updates in 2026 and two in 2027. Ferrari used their ADUO tokens at the Austrian Grand Prix and the Italian Grand Prix, but remain adrift.

So, reports suggest that Ferrari are developing a bigger turbocharger for their 2027 engine as they were not convinced that their designs were reliable enough to introduce with their ADUO2 engine at Monza. It is also said that Ferrari’s ADUO2 engine only gained them 5hp.

All five of the F1 engine manufacturers will have to build new power units for 2027, though, as F1 has committed to changing the power share after accepting that the near-50/50 split with the 2026 power units was a failure. F1 will reduce the role of the battery by moving to a 58/42 power split favouring the ICE in 2027, before then moving to a 60/40 split in 2028.