With all the Formula One teams declaring their production back at base is now focused on the huge 2026 regulation changes, Red Bull’s upgraded floor may be the last aerodynamic innovation of the season with eight race weekends remaining.
Much has been written about the new eye wateringly expensive and complex power trains now just months away, with the FIA leading the charge to fend off what may become something of a farce when the latest versions of the V6 turbo hybrid take to pre-season testing in late January.
So nervous are the manufacturers of being embarrassed, they have demanded the FIA list the first five days of testing in Barcelona as a “private” affair, although no doubt some intrepid souls will find a way into the circuit de Catalunya.
Concerns arise over “Frankenstein” 2026 F1 PU’s
The main concern for everyone is the increase in the electrical power from the current designs which should deliver 50% of the total power output alongside the internal combustion engine (ICE). Red Bull simulated in there summer of 2023 that at certain tracks the cars would run out of charge due to the minimal braking and energy recovery, leading to scenarios where the driver has to shift up a gear on the straights to increase the revs and therefore the power generated.
Put simply at times the ICE will be merely a generator to supply enough electrical power to meet the specified targets. So concerned were the FIA and FOM that a meeting was called in Bahrain, early this year to discuss a range of possibilities should the worst case scenarios come to fruition.
One proposal was to abandon the 2026 monsters and remain with the current power units while a new design was agreed upon. Others included allowing the architecture to remain the same, but for the total electrical power being produced be reduced to around 35-40%. Another option was to limit the number of years F1 run with its latest powertrains to around three years before returning to a much simpler architectural for the engines based on V8’s and some kind of KERS style hybrid system.
To effect such changes this late in the day requires a super majority at the F1 commission where F1, the FIA and all but one of the manufacturers must agree with any alternations to the regulations. The next generation of power units based on a V8 wold be around a third of the $20m a year the customer teams now pay.
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London meeting with F1 manufacturers cancelled
Following the gridlock in Bahrain, Mohammed Ben Sulayem called a meeting of the OEM’s in London this week. On the agenda was an option to limit the lifetime of the new powertrains to just three seasons. Cadillac who will run Ferrari power in 2026 have only been designated a manufacturer (OEM) from 2029 anyway, so it seems they will never build F1’snext generation of power units but wait until the V8 technology returns.
Yet on Saturday at the Italian Grand Prix the London get together was postponed apparently due to the lack of support for the FIA’s proposal. The problem for F1 is that it has become a victim of its own goals. In 2017 the FIA setup a working party to discuss the future of power in Formula One The stated purpose was to come up with designs that would make it more attractive for manufacturers to want to join the sport.
Red Bull had suffered from a situation where they were effectively stuck with the underperforming Renault power, even Ferrari and Mercedes refused to supply the Milton Keynes team and Honda were in an exclusive agreement with McLaren. Further less than a decade earlier, manufacturers had left the sport in drives following the global financial crisis of 2007.
Yet the FIA working party dawdled along, failing to agree the new power unit structures for 2020. The new 2021 deadline slipped by as well forcing the FIA to make significant changes to the chassis design regulations instead for 2022 and a new deadline for power units agreed to be 2026.
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Return to V8’s called for years ago
In the meantime, Liberty Media had acquired the commercial rights to F1 and via Netflix drive to survive along with other digital marketing strategies was seeing a huge rise in fans joining the sport. Now the manufacturers were lining up to join the global racing series, keen to join the gravy train and market their brands and road cars around the world.
Honda decided in 2020 they wold in fact quit the sport, leaving Red Bull Racing in the lurch once again. Team boss Christian Horner called for a return to the V8 engines of yesteryear, arguing they could at a push be built by Red Bull Racing and even third party suppliers due to their much reduced cost.
Red Bull Powertrains was formed and then Honda then decided to remain in F1, claiming the renewed focus on electrification in the power units suited their corporate objectives. What should have been a five to seven year cycle for the V6 turbo hybrids became a scandalous twelve year delay, never seen before in F1.
Wolff confirms Mercedes back V8 future
The result is more of the same, V6 turbo hybrids – hated by the fans for their lack of visceral noise. With the bio fuel bills for 2026 rocketing ten fold from the current cost of petrol, teams cold well be spending around $35m a year on engines, lubricants and fuel each year. This ridiculous state of affairs has been addressed by both F1’s supremo, Stefano Domenicali in unusual harmony with FIA president Ben Sulayem. Yet both Honda and Audi refuse to countenance any changes in the power unit designs nor a shortened period before they are replaced.
Under the current Concorde agreement the cycle wold be five years, meaning cheaper, lighter, simpler more visceral F1 power can only be scheduled for 2031. Toto Wolff interestingly revealed in Monza, “we are all sharing the objective to have the best possible, spectacular regulations to attract fan interest,” Mercedes chief Wolff said. “And in the end the V8 was the best consensus and had a naturally aspirated [high] revving [engine] with an energy recovery system that is still a performance differentiator. And all of that is pretty aligned with a sustainable fuel.
“And most of the OEMs said: ‘We don’t want to run a dual-cost programme, because it would mean we need to develop a new engine in two years.’ We didn’t want that,” revealed the Mercedes boss. Yet Cadillac are faced with this very situation given they would build a power unit for 2029 and come 2031 it would have to be shelved.
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Cadillac will never build a V6 turbo hybrid
One outcome of this argument from the OEM’s is surely that Cadillac will never develop one of the 2026 powertrain designs given the cost and just two seasons to recover that value. Despite Toto’s comments on the matter is has been reported in the paddock that Mercedes and Ferrari would support an early move away from the 2026 power unit specifications, but it is Honda and Audi who have dug in their heels as Audi team boss Jonathan Wheatley explains.
“Fundamentally there were three pillars that Audi set their entrance into Formula 1 on,” he said. “One was a highly efficient engine, another one was advanced hybrid technology and sustainable fuels. I don’t think our position has changed on that. As far as I know, we’re going to stay in that position for a very long time.”
The FIA merely needs to bide its time and await the hurricane of protest coming from fans and race promoters even if just a fraction of the problems expected with the new powertrains emerge. F1’s governing body are looking to devise a ‘catch up’ mechanism for OEM’s whose PU’s are more than 3% deficient in power to the leading product. This is to prevent the nigh on decade of dominance Mercedes brought to Formula One having blown a reported six ties more than their competitors on the radical new 2014 V6 turbo hybrids.
How Norris saved Piastri’s podium finish in Monza
McLaren’s decision to swap Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri back into their pre-pitstop order at Monza has drawn both praise and caution, with team boss Andrea Stella calling it an act of “fairness and racing values” – while Mercedes chief Toto Wolff warned the move risks setting a precedent that could come back to haunt them.
The drama unfolded with McLaren having decided to run long on their tyres hoping for a safety car to fall their way and return their drivers to the fight with Max Verstappen. Yet by lap 46, the world champion having fitted fresh rubber much earlier had closed the gap to the McLaren’s meaning even a safety car would see him head the field at the restart.
With Lando Norris ahead of his team mate, he as is always the case was offered the first stop but he declined, suggesting his team mate get the first stop to protect him from Charles Leclerc who was closing also having fitted fresh rubber much earlier…. READ MORE
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