The 2026 Formula One regulation changes are the biggest changes in the sports regulations ever seen. This is not big news to any Formula One fan and the anticipation of what the cars would look like and how they would perform on track was subject to much speculation and excitement. It is fair to say that after the first two races of the season there is a large part of the Formula One community that are not happy with what they have been served in the name of the sport they love and that pre season excitement has quickly turned to dismay.
Many feel that the way the cars have to be driven is not in keeping with what encapsulates Formula One as the pinnacle and most extreme form of circuit racing.
Personally I do find the super clipping strange and hearing the revs drop towards the end of a straight counters the enjoyment of seeing and hearing the car being pushed to its limits. After all this is what Formula One is all about right? Pushing the limits. Riding that thin line between glory and disaster and mastering a beast no mortal man could tame.
In the first two races we have seen many overtakes and also a lot of unreliability. Cars breaking down and not even managing to start the race. Mclaren knew all too well about this as they had to retire both cars before the formation lap in China. For McLaren fans all around the world, myself included this is not what we want to see. In that moment as the camera swopped over the grid and we saw the empty spaces the race felt like it was over before it began. One Audi was also unable to take to the starting grid and during the race we saw Aston Martin and RedBull pull cars over with issues.
It was at this point that I had the realisation that in the last twenty years or so we have been spoiled within Formula One and its reliability. It was Ferrari and Michael Schumacher in the early two thousands that began to change the game with the power of reliability. Up until that point it was the norm for several cars to retire from a race due to mechanical or engine issues. In fact I would go as far as to say that engine manufacturers used to build their engines to such thin torrelances that they expected it to blow up sooner or later, This is why it was standard practice to run several engines over the course of a race weekend. Practice engines would then be swapped out for the qualifying engine. This unit was tuned to the max and purposely designed to last just long enough to complete a qualifying session and then when that was over swapped again to the race engine. At the end of a Grand Prix all those units were scrap and a new set would be delivered for the next race. And so it went on. The cost cap rules now mean that teams have had to make engines last significantly longer. This number being reduced each year to where it stands for 2026 at four. In 2027 it will be three and so reliability has had to come into the design. This is not a bad thing by any means but could we say that the designs are not quite pushing the limits? In order to be reliable they have surely had to take a few steps back from the limit?
Say what you want about the 2026 regulations but I think we can all agree that every component of the car is being pushed to the limit. We may find the outcome and functions of the cars to be strange and on the surface not aligned with the ethos of Formula One. We may have been spoiled with reliability and for newer fans this is the norm. But maybe we are witnessing a return to something more in tune with the past and more aligned with pushing the limits and living with the consequences because we know this is the pinnacle of design and manufacturing that we will not see anywhere else.
As for the driving we have seen a lot of overtaking and on-track action. In some cases in China there were so many things happening at once it was hard to know where to look. There are those among us that say this is artificial racing as the overtake and boost buttons are making it happen. This may be true but it is also true that the driver has to control the car and make a clean and fair pass no matter how much is being done for them?
What we have seen so far, especially in China, was drivers at the top of their game pushing each other to the limit of fairness. Side by side through turns and making moves on the inside and outside. So then I ask you. Isn’t Formula One a showcase of the world’s best drivers pushing each other to the limit?
Whatever you think about the new regulations so far, maybe you can look beyond what is different and see that actually, Formula One is just as it has always been. Man and Machine on the limit of performance and ability. And if you’re willing to accept that, then perhaps you can start to enjoy a form of racing that has gone back to ‘the good old days’ when cars break and nothing is a guarantee until you cross the chequered flag.
Teams will inevitably get on top of the reliability issues and find ways to combat overtake and boost mode so this time might not last. Perhaps therefore, we can say ‘Its better than it looks’?
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