Juan Pablo Montoya reckons next season's going to be absolutely mental. With Mercedes finally losing their stranglehold on the championship after dominating 2026, the Colombian legend thinks we're in for a proper shake-up at the front of the grid. He's even tipping Ferrari as the team most likely to come out on top in 2027, but there's one massive catch holding them back right now.

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The issue? Power, pure and simple. Ferrari's SF-26 is actually less powerful than Red Bull's engine, and even trails behind Audi's power unit, which is wild considering Audi only just joined the grid this year. Montoya told AS that while the Ferrari is genuinely brilliant to drive and better overall than the Red Bull, the Scuderia are missing somewhere between one and two percent in engine output. If Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc can get that sorted for 2027, Montoya reckons Ferrari could be unstoppable.

The numbers tell the story pretty clearly. Red Bull's got the most powerful internal combustion engine on the grid, while Mercedes is about two to four percent down from them. That power deficit has cost Ferrari big time this season, despite using their allocated engine upgrade tokens at both Austria and Italy. Reports suggest they're now developing a bigger turbocharger for next year's engine after reliability concerns forced them to hold back their second upgrade.

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Here's where it gets interesting though, the FIA's changing the power equation for 2027, moving from the failed near 50/50 battery-to-engine split to a 58/42 split that favours the traditional engine. That's a complete rebuild for every manufacturer, and Ferrari's already known for bouncing back hard when the regs reset. With a proper engine fix and those new technical regulations, they could definitely be the team to beat next season.

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The beauty of it all is that this year's shown us no single team can just walk away with it anymore. Mercedes had their moment, but now the field's getting competitive again. If Ferrari can squeeze out that extra horsepower Montoya's talking about, don't be shocked to see the Prancing Horse back where they belong, challenging for championships properly.

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