Formula 1: Five things we learned from the first half of the 2026 season

This year’s F1 championship was introduced A major turning point in the history of the sport. With new air and engine regulations.

Although the chassis rules are generally very popular – even if the cars are a bit slower than last year – the new engines certainly aren’t.

A nominally 50-50 split between internal combustion and electric power (more than 53-47 in reality) combined with the engines’ architecture made them power-hungry.

And when the battery is empty, the cars only have around 540bhp – less power than a Formula 3 car, but more payload.

The need to constantly charge the battery has reduced many of the best corners at many of F1’s great tracks to what Fernando Alonso calls “charging stations”.

The bottom line is that the hunger for power has led to some exciting battles, known as “yo-yo racing” where cars repeatedly swap positions over multiple laps.

But the drivers have pointed out that this is artificial, and that odds are usually only happening because one driver suddenly has 350 kW (470 kph) more power than the other.

As four-time champion Max Verstappen said: “Sometimes people say, ‘Ah yes, but that was a great race’. I say: ‘Yes, but the way we raced is not true.’

“And then you get to some tracks and you’re driving not a lot of horse power for F1 levels. And it’s a bit painful, which I could see coming for years already. So, then, of course, it’s not very exciting.

“At some point I got a little fed up with repeating myself, because it’s already hard to just drive.”

The drivers – especially Verstappen and Fernando Alonso, but most others as well – have been very vocal about this since the start of the season. The sport as a whole recognized that there was a problem and responded.

Correcting the regulations To reduce the problem, only after three races and in The engine split will change to 60-40 by 2028; For the next year with intermediate level.

That will greatly reduce these issues, but not eliminate them completely.

F1’s governing body, the FIA, has been repeatedly warned that this issue of energy starvation will occur in the years leading up to 2026.

This made it an easy target for FIA president Mohamed Ben Suleiman to propose a return to naturally aspirated V8 engines for 2031.

It’s an idea that has exceptionally limited support among F1 stakeholders. It lacks imagination and analysis, comes with its own set of problems, and is effectively turning the clock back 15 years.

The issue is not hybrid engines or turbos per se; There is a lack of energy recovery opportunities.

By removing the MGU-H, which recovered power from the turbo and exhaust, and did not allow recovery from front lean, the F1 forced itself upon itself.

The sport needs to intelligently and rigorously analyze what it wants from the engine in the future.

Then it has to come up with a device that satisfies the manufacturers, is roadworthy, embraces climate crisis concerns, doesn’t pose a noise threat to some of the sport’s most popular races, is cheap, gives drivers almost full power, and can get ahead.