With ten race weekends remaining of the 2025 Formula One season in any other year all attention would be focused on the remaining battles to come. Will Ferrari go all year winless? Can Hamilton finally claim his first podium on Sunday in Red? When will Russell’s contract with Mercedes be renewed?
These would be the hot topics on everyone’s lip in the paddock. Yet this is not the case. With the biggest F1 regulation changes coming next year in living memory, day by day the picture of what the sport will look like I its next era are becoming ever clearer.
Mercedes latest simulations of their new car for 2026 have revealed the F1 speed record set by the 2002 Honda car will be smashed, as the cars ascertain circuits will for the first time hit 400kph. Usually a big regulation change is the opportunity for the FIA to slow the cars down, given the ongoing space race between the teams to go ever quicker would never stop.
Cars faster, lap times slower
Whilst the top speed of the new cars may be faster than ever before, the lap times are believed to increase. Originally simulations suggested they would be some 3-4 seconds slower than the current breed of F1 cars, although an intervention by the FIA earlier this year fixed that potentially embarrassing outcome.
The new power units will be more powerful then before with the hybrid and internal combustion engine (ICE) each producing around 50% of the total power output. The current contribution from the hybrid is 120kw (163 hp), the next generation will provide up to 350kw (475 hp). This combined with output from the ICE means that in optimum conditions the total output will exceed 1,000 horsepower at peak deployment, something the drivers who have experienced simulations have noted.
Aston Martin’s Felipe Drugovitch recently likened the next gen F1 cars to a “rocket” when exiting a corner. “Coming out of the corners, the car accelerates like crazy. You feel like you’re sitting on a rocket,” said the team’s reserve driver.
Yet that kind of power won’t always be available for the drivers given that braking alone cannot deliver enough electrical power as is the case in the current cars. At times the combustion engine will be deployed to generate electrical power which has led to suggestions drivers may have to change down a gear to increase the revs and the power generation where normally they would not.
FIA discussed a rebalance of power
“If the electrical share of the power increases relative to the combustion engine and the batteries have only limited charging and discharging capacities, energy management will be an important challenge. This will produce some innovations on the electric side of the drive,” explained FIA sporting director Nikolas Tombazis.
To solve this potential problem, here was talk between the manufacturers and FIA earlier this year about reducing the amount of electrical energy required. Limiting the electrical power output to around 40% of the total would solve the potential crisis, yet the German auto manufacturers were against any changes in the specification.
It could be the FIA may be forced into using emergency powers to enforce a shift in the balance of power production, although at this moment in time they are biding their time to see how the cars operate win ager on track. They will be measuring the output of the team’s various designs for the first six races, then a catchup process may be initiated for teams more than 3% down on the power of the best performer in the field.
Ferrari’s rear suspension gamble will define the season
Not only are there concerns over the balance of electrical and ICE power, but there are circuits now being identified where the power will be restricted by the FIA. Cars now could achieve a top speed of 350kph through the Monaco tunnel, up 50kph from their current clocked pace.
The FIA is determined to prevent any unforeseen silliness of the new power unit designs. “We’re going to make sure the cars don’t suddenly delay on the straights or do any other unnatural things,” said the FIA’s technical expert, Nikolas Tombazis. He for the first time revealed that the delivery of the power will be tapered to avoid abrupt losses of pace when the battery depletes.
The complexity of the 2026 hybrid requires a tailored approach from F1’s governing body with them creating energy management projections for each and every circuit on the calendar. The FIA are in constant contact with the teams over their latest simulations and the sporting regulations for the season face further adjustment yet.
Bottas now free to replace Colapinto at Alpine
Monaco & Singapore singled out
According to Tombazis, this process is far from final: “We haven’t finally set the rules yet. They are adapted step by step, depending on what experiences the teams have and report to us. The more intensively they now enter the development, the more often the drivers in the simulator try the 2026 cars, the more feedback we get from them.”
Having now seen the current FIA ‘secret’ data sheets, AMuS of Germany is reporting calculations have been made of how much each lap at every venue is theoretically at full throttle. In Melbourne its 4,630 metres of the 5,278 total – In Monaco its 1,388 of the 3,337 and in Monza its 4,213 of the 5,793 total distance.
AMuS Michael Schmidt reveals there are two circuits where full power will not be allowed. In Singapore and Monte Carlo the teams will run their power units on a mode the FIA is calling “Rev1”. This will reduced the total power output including when in “over ride mode”, sometimes called push to pass.
Rules of operation continue to develop
Whilst the architecture of the new power units is now fixed, as the data increasingly pours into the FIA from the teams latest simulations, its operational perimeters will be ever more defined. The push to pass replacing the DRS is expected to be a boost allowance available to each driver on every lap, although there remains the possibility the FIA will copy the one in use currently in Indycar.
The drivers there have an energy boost allowance for the entire race to deploy at will, but when its gone its gone is the cold hard fact, something the FIA are nervous about.
The new F1 power units may be highly complex, but it turns out the FIA has also created a highly complicated job for itself. Each circuit, each corner and each straight has to be modelled to ensure the racing spectacle is authentic and drivers do not suffer huge drops of in pace when the battery dries up.
The rules of how the new power units will be used will continue to evolve until pre-season testing. The goal is clear: unleash F1’s most powerful cars yet — but keep them under control where the risks are greatest.
Cadillac to provide a “pathway” for American drivers
Some three years ago in 2022, ex-F1 driver and son of the legendary Mario Andretti revealed his plans to enter Formula One for the 2024 season. The team was contain the Andretti name and Michael made his pitch to join the series at the pinnacle of motorsport by way of social media.
Despite Haas F1 already being owned by an American, Andretti were to make a big deal about becoming the sport’s American team and along with the promise to field all American drivers. Haas have never recruited an American preferring to recruit drivers with either big financial backing or F1 experience.
Mario Andretti later confirmed in an interview with ‘Racer’ that the team would “definitely” enter F1 with an American at the helm of one of its cars, but yesterday’s announcement that Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez would be their pilots for 2026 flew in the face of the previous commitment…. READ MORE
With over 30 years of experience in Formula 1 as an insider journalist, I have built trusted connections across the paddock, from race engineers and mechanics to senior team figures. At The Judge 13, I and a handful of trusted colleagues share exclusive Formula 1 news, expert analysis and behind-the-scenes stories you will not find in mainstream motorsport media.
