New power units with a roughly 50/50 split between electrical power and ICE. Sustainable fuels. Active aerodynamics. Overtaking mode, straight-line mode and all the others. F1 has changed dramatically over the winter – and that couldn’t simply not create some controversy. A lot of drivers complained and observers are worried the racing has become too complicated for fans to follow.
Have the championship’s organisers simply gone too far at once with all the added complexity – and does F1 risk confusing its fanbase? Our writers from across the international network have their say.
Advertisement
It’s hard to keep track of what’s going on
Stefan Ehlem, Motorsport.com Germany:
Yes, the new Formula 1 regulations are too complex and overly complicated. Even insiders struggle to fully grasp the technical interconnections, and many questions remain unanswered – including within the teams themselves. Mercedes’ customer teams, for example, have been puzzling over one issue since qualifying in Melbourne: what exactly the Mercedes works team is doing differently? They simply cannot explain it.
Advertisement
The public image of Formula 1 is also suffering. Many interviews now revolve almost exclusively around energy management – how much energy is available, how it is deployed, and why this limits drivers on track. Yet from the TV pictures it is difficult to understand what is actually happening, because the individual processes are nearly impossible to break down into a simple, easily understandable explanation.
The core issue is that the new Formula 1 regulations were designed primarily to appeal to car manufacturers. In that regard, the plan has worked: Audi and General Motors have joined the championship, and Honda has returned.
Lando Norris, McLaren
Lando Norris, McLaren
Beyond the engineers, however, very few stakeholders are genuinely interested in the increased emphasis on hybrid technology in the cars. Most drivers consider the new technology terrible and say they hardly recognise Formula 1 racing anymore. This sentiment also affects the fans. Some simply cannot connect with the “new” F1 – because too much has changed too quickly, and not for the better. At this point, hardly anyone can truly keep track of what is going on.
Advertisement
Stop moaning, F1 should always be technical
Ed Hardy, Autosport:
Please forgive the most technical sport in the world for actually being technical, because are we only now starting to realise that Formula 1 has forever been an engineering championship? Just think about it: throughout its 76 years of history, the F1 title has largely been decided by which team has the best car designer and not always the best driver.
But that’s totally okay, as it contributes to the excitement of watching F1 constantly trying to push the limit of what’s achievable – and on this occasion it concerns more electrical racing. Sure, the drivers are well within their rights to voice an opinion, considering they’re the ones who actually put their bodies on the line, but I really don’t think fans should be overly critical at this stage.
Advertisement
That’s because for the parts that somebody might not understand, there’s absolutely nothing stopping them from conducting further research to learn more about the new regulations. It would be quite a dismissive attitude not to do so and quite frankly, it’s not like every intricate part of an F1 car has been easy to understand up to now.
Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
My seven-year-old self didn’t start watching and suddenly understand how a fully combustion engine worked, or how effective a slipstream was. No – these are things one eventually learns, and it’s time to do that again with the 2026 cars. There’s also absolutely nothing wrong with that, especially when there’s no chance that the majority of fans could provide detailed explanations as to why the cars of the late 2000s were so good…
Advertisement
It’s about the end product and, in the case of the Australian Grand Prix, it was actually pretty decent. Sure it wasn’t perfect – the race start was a mess – but that will eventually improve, whereas during the wheel-to-wheel combats I couldn’t keep my eyes off them and totally forgot that I was supposed to be half-asleep at 4:30 in the morning!
Probably yes, but… isn’t that what we wanted?
Jose Carlos de Celis, Motorsport.com Spain:
First of all, this is not the Formula 1 I would want, nor is it ideal, of course. But I think the first race with these new rules was entertaining, more so than most of the 2025 ones, perhaps. There was a lot of overtaking, and wasn’t that what fans had been asking for for years? Yes, the overtaking is somewhat artificial, but so was DRS – which was far more predictable on top of that!
Advertisement
If you ask me, F1 has gone too far with electrification, which means that drivers let themselves be overtaken at one point on the circuit so that they can overtake at the next – something that goes against the DNA of the competition. But there will be circuits where the demands on energy management will be lower than at Albert Park and maybe the spectacle will be different. We need more time to reach a definitive conclusion.
Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, Gabriel Bortoleto, Audi F1 Team
Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, Gabriel Bortoleto, Audi F1 Team
As for the complexity of the regulations, it might be better to introduce everything at once rather than gradually, but FOM should increase or improve the explanatory graphics during races so that fans don’t feel that, for the first time in years, they don’t understand anything. In case it’s not clear, here we go again: this isn’t the best F1 ever – but it’s the one we have now, and the sooner F1 helps us get used to it, the better.
Advertisement
Looks complicated – but give it time
Federico Faturos, Motorsport.com Latin America:
Let’s be clear: this is Formula 1, and it is supposed to be complex. What fans want to see is the best drivers and teams in the world trying to master challenges that many others would fail to conquer. And if you prefer simpler forms of motorsport, you can find them – that’s part of the beauty of the sport. As Chip Ganassi Racing’s community manager demonstrated when teasing F1 on X, pointing out that IndyCar doesn’t have battery management, super-clipping or downshifting on straights – they just “race”. It was a good tweet, hands down, as those more than two million views prove.
Advertisement
Having said that, it certainly looks like the new regulations may have gone too far in terms of complexity. That seems to be the opinion of many fans – bearing in mind how difficult it is to make such a broad statement about a global sport – and several drivers have said so very clearly. Lando Norris probably explained it best after running over a piece of debris shed by Kimi Antonelli in Q3 on Saturday in Melbourne: “You have to look at the steering wheel every three seconds to see what’s going to happen”.
However, it has also been well documented that Albert Park was arguably one of the worst venues to host the debut of this new set of regulations, given its ‘energy-poor’ characteristics. And you can reasonably expect things to improve with time as teams gather more and more data for their engineers and drivers learn better ways to handle these complex new cars. In turn, the racing should begin to look less like Formula E.
George Russell, Mercedes
George Russell, Mercedes
One thing is certain: this isn’t something that can simply be abandoned, like the infamous elimination-style qualifying format that F1 introduced ten years ago and ditched two races later. These regulations are here to stay for the foreseeable future, so perhaps we should give them a little time to settle.
Advertisement
F1 must think about the future
Ken Tanaka, Motorsport.com Japan:
The 2026 Formula 1 regulations contain a mix of necessary complexity and unnecessary complexity.
First, the necessary complexity lies on the technical side. This season, the balance between engine power and electric power has effectively become equal, which makes energy management far more important. This is something that matters greatly for the future of the automotive industry.
Cars essentially run on the energy contained in fuel. However, when they slow down, the brake discs are clamped by the brake pads, and the car’s kinetic energy is simply discarded as heat. But if that wasted energy can instead be converted into electricity and recovered, the amount of fuel energy being thrown away can be reduced. And that is extremely important.
Advertisement
Moreover, the sustainable fuel used in F1 from this season is very expensive. In that sense as well, managing energy efficiently in order to avoid wasting the fuel’s potential becomes critically important. The “energy management” that drivers are currently complaining about is, in fact, an essential technology for the future. Drivers, teams and we fans will all have to get used to it.
Honda RA626H power unit
Honda RA626H power unit
Things are somewhat chaotic right now, but I imagine the system will become refined before long.
Advertisement
On the other hand, the unnecessary complexity lies in the abundance of gimmicks such as active aerodynamics and boost modes. It must have been difficult for fans in particular to fully understand what was going on.
I can understand the thinking: since cars may run short of energy on the straights, active aerodynamics can reduce drag to compensate. However, perhaps it would have been acceptable to simply accept that aerodynamic drag increases as speed rises.
The same could be said about boost modes and overtake modes. I fully understand that they were introduced as a way to increase on-track action. But it is often said that sports become easier to become passionate about when they remain as simple as possible. The complexity of this season’s regulations may simply be too much, particularly for newcomers.
Advertisement
That said, the increasing complexity of power-unit technology is something that is necessary – for the sake of the future.
It’s just what F1 has always been
Oleg Karpov, Motorsport.com Global edition:
Formula 1 has always been complex – and increasingly so over time – as it continues to push the boundaries of new technology. In that regard, there is simply nothing new or unusual about what is happening now. It is fair to say that some of the energy management complexity may be confusing for a casual fan, but there is also an argument that this is just part of stepping into new territory. In reality, that aforementioned casual fan – which, to some extent, is nine out of ten people watching the races, if not more – probably hasn’t fully understood many other aspects of F1’s technical world either.
Advertisement
In truth, that complexity has always been part of F1’s appeal. And the sarcastic remarks from other racing championships now – pointing out that they are about “pure racing” – miss the point. Formula 1 is different: over-engineered and incredibly expensive cars, representing cutting-edge technology, are an integral part of its charm.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
F1 2026 is simply the next step, with the championship doing what it has always done at its best. Nothing more than that. And after all, none of that complexity stops someone from turning on the TV and watching the race. One could even argue there isn’t much need to “explain” every added layer of complexity, because the underlying point remains the same: the best drivers in the fastest cars will win.
Advertisement
Yes, drivers complain – and that is what is now driving much of the negativity around the new rules. But had they not done so, you might not even notice much of a difference, apart from overtaking opportunities potentially becoming more frequent – which, frankly, isn’t a bad thing. For a casual fan, that shouldn’t really make the difference anyway, because the quality of the show is what matters most.
Drivers will always complain. They did when the Pirelli tyres were initially too soft – only to complain a few years later that they had become too durable. And the last time there was such a loud outcry was when the FIA introduced the Halo, a device designed to protect their heads. A few of them will now admit it wasn’t such a bad idea after all. It’s fine to listen to drivers – but that doesn’t mean Formula 1 has to follow everything they say.
Tell us what you think in the comments!
To read more Motorsport.com articles visit our website.
التعليقات