Anyone else surprised at the short gardening leave? Him starting in March changes things. I thought he would be out at least until September of 2025,which would hurt his participation in the 2026 design. If, however, he does start in March, he can absolutely be a major part of the redesign and that changes the calculations for who might be a force in 2026.
It’s certain that someone will be better than the others by a reasonable amount on day 1. The chances of them all being within a handful of hp, with equal drivability and reliability etc is near zero. It will then be years before the engines improve enough to be considered similar across the board.