Formula One is entering the unknown as Adrian Newey describes it. “The reality is I can’t remember another time in Formula 1 when both the chassis regulations and the regulations have changed simultaneously.

“And in this case the chassis regulations have been very much written to try to compensate, let’s say, for the power unit regulations,” said the F1 car design guru at the Autosport’s annual January event this season.

Newey goes on to warn that one manufacturer may “dominate” the next era of F1 regulations stating, “there has to be a chance that one manufacturer will come out well on top and it’ll become a power unit-dominated regulation, at least to start with.”

 

 

 

F1 Crisis talks held in Bahrain

Much has been said and written about the new 2026 car and power unit new rules and such was the level of ‘crisis’ the FIA called a meeting in Bahrain this season, to get the manufacturers together. Proposals were made to cut the amount of electrical power produced by each unit from 50%, to prevent at circuits where braking is less severe the unseemly image of an internal combustion engine merely acting as a generator of electrical power along the long straights.

The FIA official who manages F1’s day to day affairs, Nikolas Tombazis, even went as far as to offer the option of remaining with the current set of power units until something better can be agreed upon. Both the FIA president and F1’s CEO have called for a return to simpler V8 technology, running sustainable fuels which could be developed to run the world’s 2 billion combustion engine powered vehicles currently in operation.

Yet the German manufacturers dug in their heels, refusing to give ground despite Ferrari and Red Bull – and Renault on the quiet – believing the coming new formula will be a big mistake. This week Tombazis gave an update on the newly framed FIA ‘catch up’ regulations which have been worked upon since the announcement of the new and finalised F1 engine specifications last June.

Now F1’s CEO, Stefano Domenical, appears to be heading further criticism off at the pass, when speaking to the Race podcast he called for patience once the cars take to the circuit in anger early next season. “So I would say, let’s wait and see where we are. And then if there is the need to make some adjustment, we don’t have to do it straight away. There is the time to wait a little bit to make sure that we understand exactly what we’re talking about.”

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Not all teams “equal transparent” says FIA boss

Such a reassurance is clearly born out of a significant concern in all corners of the paddock, that the new 2026 regulations may throw up something of a farce. Domenicali suggests the mood music has changed somewhat since the crisis meetings early this season claiming: “And where, at the beginning, I was hearing ‘lift and coast, lift and coast’, already today this argument is almost fading away.

“It’s still there in maybe two, or three situations, but I’m pretty convinced that the relation is there between the teams and the FIA, because they are the one that, at the end of the day, needs to make sure that this adjustment of regulation will be solved.”

With the clock ticking down and teams already with their first wind tunnel iterations of the 2026 cars now built and ready to go, F1 is now on a collision course with destiny coming in preseason testing. The FIA has been collaborating with various teams/manufacturers on their progress to date in solving the new car design rules.

But Tombazis also revealed not all teams and manufacturers are “equally transparent” with their data so far, but interestingly observed there is “overall agreement on how to solve the problems”. Yet the ‘don’t judge us on how the opening races play out’ line now taken by Domenicali suggests to some there are expectations the new F1 product will be awful.

Lawson accusations against Red Bull

 

 

 

New ‘catch up’ rules issued for 2026

The FIA announced this week they will measure the internal combustion engines power output of each manufacturers offering across the first five weekends and then calculate an average for each. Now finally fleshed out this week, Tombazis explains embedded in the regulations was a concept called ADUO, which stands for Additional Development and Update Opportunities. 

The details of these ‘catch up’ rules are now in the public domain and the benefit of any team or manufacturer being awarded ADUO status, will accrue benefits across the entire season. Any ICE found to have more than 3% less power than the leading contender in the five race analysis the FIA will undertake, will be offered ADUO opportunities.

This includes an increase in the number of hours this manufacturer wold be allowed to spend testing on dynos along with incremental spending allowed over and above the engine manufacturers cost cap. There will also be the opportunity for teams to re-homologate their power units, something usually restricted to the start of each year of competition.

Red Bull A-B team threat following Horner’s departure

 

 

 

‘Don’t judge us race 1’ – suggests grave concerns

Despite his veiled threat of doom in the first race of the season down under, Stefano Domenicali tries to remain positive in his conclusion. “And we may have good surprises, because it’s not only about power units, and it is not only about energy management. It is also related to the fact that the cars will be different.

“So the way that you manage that, the way that you are able to do the set-up in order not to destroy the tyres…there’s so many things that we will learn next year,” F1’s CEO concluded adding: “I’m pretty sure that if we do two pictures, one in the first race in Melbourne and one at the last race in Abu Dhabi, we will see two different worlds.”

With an all new F1 power unit product project coming into force, there will be at least one supplier who faces an inordinate amount of unreliability. Tombazis has revealed in this circumstance, the manufacturer will again be offered ADUO, something Renault and Honda would have been delighted with when the last big engine regulation change came in 2014.

 

 

 

MORE F1 NEWS – Hamilton at Ferrari suffering same issue as Vettel

Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari was the surprise F1 driver switch of the century so far. No team and driver have enjoyed the success of Hamilton and Mercedes together in the history of Formula One racing.

Yet denied a fresh contract of more than a year by Toto Wolff, Hamilton called his friend, John Elkann the president of the Ferrari group, before the ink was dry on his Mercedes deal. Lewis announced he was leaving Mercedes before a wheel had turned in anger for the 2024 season, but since joining the Scuderia his form has gone from bad to worse.

Charles Leclerc has claimed Ferrari’s five podiums this year and is responsible for some 60% of the points scored for the team. Hamilton meanwhile has been struggling with the SF-25, particularly rear end instability, something Sebastian Vettel felt during his six years with the Maranello based team…. READ MORE