New Regulations, Same Old Problems?: The State of Formula 1
Written on 4/4/26
TL;DR: My takes on the 2026 F1 regulations. Whilst the new regs have made racing more exciting, it has also made it more dangerous and somewhat more artificial. Changes will be required for 2027.
Well, well, well. I came into these new regulations with great optimism, but as pre-season dragged on, this slowly got replaced with genuine concern. Now that we are in a short hiatus due to the Middle Eastern GPs being cancelled, I thought it would be an apt time to collect my thoughts on these new regulations. I made an opinion article about the pre-2026 state of Formula 1 (which you can see here: [1]), and it seems like the new regulations have exacerbated these problems, and created more. Let's refer back to the problems I wrote about in that article:
Commercialisation
Pre-season was unlike any other. So-called "behind-the-scenes" testing had edited YouTube videos to the point that everyone pretty much knew the state of play two months before the season had even begun. Whilst I have no issues with pre-season being televised, it needs to be a one or the other approach. The situation was laughable: most teams had not even confirmed their livery so were just running carbon bodies. If you are going to televise such a session, do it further down the line, at least when the liveries are confirmed. There barely seemed like a pause from Norris winning the championship in Abu Dhabi to the start of this new season - this also surely can't be good for the drivers.
Clipping, clipping and super clipping
To further this conversation, I feel like I need to give a general breakdown of the headline regulation changes. At risk of a mass oversimplification, there is a greater emphasis on the MGU-K power unit (the hybrid element of Formula 1 cars) and less on the ICE (you can see more technical breakdowns in [2] and [3]). This has already caused some bizarre phenomena that we have not seen in Formula 1 before.
Clipping has become the talking point of both drivers and fans. Clipping is when the ICE charges the battery since these new regulations have become more battery dependent and thus battery intensive. This is signified through the back lights of the car flashing. The new regulations boasted higher top speeds than their predecessors, but this is only part of the story. Sure, if the battery is fully charged, acceleration is quicker and we have seen impressive top speeds being reached. But that is dependent on the battery being charged. Energy conservation has resulted in curious situations where cars are decelerating midway through a straight despite the driver's accelerator being pinned down (known as "super clipping"). Thus, there is now a great emphasis on drivers conserving battery through techniques like LiCo (lifting and coasting before corners) and not activating the accelerator until just before the start/finish line in qualifying (yes, even in qualifying, battery conservation is a factor). This has led to complaints by drivers and fans alike that Formula 1 is no longer the pinnacle of motor racing - it is a battery conserving farce where drivers win through how the car is programmed to deploy power over the skill of the driver. Mercedes fans will argue George Russell was robbed off a podium or even a victory due to a malfunction relating to clipping in the Japanese GP [4].
The new cars are also, somewhat ironically, slower than 2025's over a single lap [5]. This is because they have less downforce, so struggle through the higher speed corners. This was evident as early as Catalunya in pre-season, where Turn 3 can no longer be taken flat out. Furthermore, cars struggle to get the power down as quickly in these new cars, meaning that more gradual and delicate throttle inputs are required. This has led to driver satisfaction decreasing too. Max Verstappen has gone as far as to saying he is considering retirement after this year [6], and looks far more at home in his Mercedes GT3 car at the Nurburgring (there is definitely some irony to be had there). After suffering terrible vibrations throughout the Chinese GP [7], Fernando Alonso also had a few choice words about the new regulations, stating "overtakes are unintentional." [8] Now this is a driver who's had his fair share of awful cars (GP2 ENGINE!!!), so I feel like if anyone should have wisdom in this subject, it will be him. Lando Norris is another who is against the current regulations, and argues that the driver's opinions on them is irrelevant and that fan entertainment comes first [9]. Now, I've made it clear in the past that I am not the biggest Lando fan, but I have to agree with him here. Concerns over driver safety and driver satisfaction with the new regulations seem to have been put aside for these slower cars.
Clipping, some have argued, has created a cat-and-mouse style of racing. Sure, the number of overtakes have increased in 2026 races, but some see these overtakes as artificial. This cat-and-mouse style can also be incredibly dangerous. The drastic differences in closing speed have been unlike anything we have seen before in Formula 1 [10]. Ollie Bearman was very lucky to get away relatively unscathed after being caught out by the over 50 km/h difference in speed to the clipping Alpine of Franco Colapinto. Maybe crashes like these will be common occurrences in 2026, especially with more inexperienced drivers, but I feel like it is too early to speculate.
Whilst these cars are slower, another headline was that they were also smaller. This, I think, has been a universally celebrated move. Cars were becoming like boats pre-2026, and it made tight circuits, especially Monaco, into processions because they were so large.
Nothing to see here...
Returning back to my previous article, the media have dealt with these new regulations embarrasingly. Firstly, I find it really peculiar that coverage of the races does not provide the viewer with constant information on battery, considering how vital it is to these regulations. WEC did this perfectly before they changed it, providing constant telemetry on the cars' battery, which is extremely useful to know [11]. This seems like an oversight.
Another more pressing issue I have is the attempts to cover-up the extent of clipping. Throughout coverage in 2026, the camera pans out of onboard shots when a car enters super-clipping, be that the back straight and 130R in Suzuka or the looping straight before Turns 11 and 12 in Melbourne. Rather than being transparent, it is almost as if the TV crews are embarrassed about cars decelerating on straights (as they should be?). Maybe it is just a coincidence though? I would give them the benefit of the doubt but something very suspicious happened with Kimi Antonelli's pole lap footage at the Japanese GP. These videos normally follow the onboards of the pole lap throughout, but on this occasion, before 130R (and conveniently before super clipping was initiated), the camera pans out and shows the outside shots of the car [12]. A later comment clarified this was a "technical issue." Conveniently, there were "technical issues" throughout the GP weekend, always in this same section. What are they trying to hide? Most fans already know the extent of clipping, censoring it in this way is highly unprofessional and borderline scandalous.
There was also the yelistener situation. For those of you who read my previous article, a lot of references linked to yelistener videos, since that channel has provided me with a lot of technical insight into Formula 1. Towards the end of the 2025 season, a lot of yelistener's videos were taken down for copyright reasons. This infuriated a lot of fans, with many of the official F1 videos being flooded with comments along the lines of "justice for yelistener." Fortunately, yelistener's channel has been reinstated now, thus a lot of references for this article will also come from them. But the fact that a channel that was enriching the sport and providing people with more in-depth analysis than the official channel was taken down says a lot about the management of the sport.
So new F1 is bad then?
Well, although I have been criticising it for the whole of this article, I remain undecided on whether these regulations are a welcome change. One part of me, perhaps the purist, is saying that this heavy reliance on batteries is making it seem like Formula E (and with all due respect, that discipline does not have the same prestige as Formula 1). There is also the completely understandable safety concerns that come with super clipping, either through different deployment strategies or malfunctions (Leclerc passing Russell safely when his car malfunctioned says more about Leclerc's experience than anything else, it could have easily ended up in a Bearman-esque situation).
But there's another part of me that enjoys the action and drama of this new season. For the first time in what seems like forever, races are genuinely competitive. Of course, Mercedes seem to be the ones to beat, but Ferrari and McLaren (when they can get their cars on the starting line...) are closer to the leaders than McLaren's dominance last year or the years of Red Bull and Mercedes dominance prior. In the first few races alone, Leclerc and Hamilton have provided more entertainment than the whole of Ferrari's 2025. This extends to the midfield too. With Red Bull falling back, we have seen packs of three or four cars all fighting for the same position. It makes for peak racing and rewards intelligent racecraft - maybe some people are just being too harsh on these regulations.
So, to conclude. Yes, the new regulations have led to a significant change to the sport. I do fear that there is far too much of a reliance on battery power. As a Top Gear article eloquently stated [13], F1 is no longer the pinnacle of anything anymore, with memes taking this a step further, including labels like "Formula Range Anxiety." Safety must also be prioritised at all costs; I do fear that Bearman's crash will not be the last due to the vast differences in closing speed caused by clipping. But it's been a long while since I've had this much anticipation for each Grand Prix. Sure, Mercedes look dominant, but Ferrari will certainly have their say with their experienced driver roster, and maybe McLaren will also be in the mix. I feel like a freshener was needed to the sport, and these new regulations have certainly provided this. In my opinion, a few tweaks for next year will vastly improve the sport and retain the entertainment aspect of this year whilst keeping F1 at the pinnacle of motorsport:
- Current regulations have 50% reliance on ICE and 50% on the hybrid unit. Moving this more to a 60:40 or 75:25 will certainly reduce the effects of clipping and super clipping. I do not know enough technical detail about how this works but I feel getting this balance right will really improve the experience for viewers and drivers alike.
- Graphics. If they are insistent on the importance of battery, convey this to the viewers.
- Transparency. We know that cars are decelerating down straights, so just be open about it. Trying to keep it a secret is frankly embarrassing.
F1 2026 has certainly divided opinion - while I am far less pessimistic than some about these regulations, even I admit that changes need to be made. The sport definitely required a freshening up, but these regulations have exacerbated old problems (especially with ownership) and created new problems as well.
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Posted Apr 8, 2026, 1:07 PM UTC