British Grand Prix: Lewis Hamilton says Silverstone ‘will be completely different’ with 2026 cars

Hamilton said: “If you look at the speed tracks, we start to lose deployment going into the coupes. Normally the engine is screaming out there and you hold on for dear life. This year we will probably drop from seventh to sixth to raise the revs. It will be straight with nine (copes) and 10 knots.

“Maggots and Becketts don’t feel the same because you have to pick it up in there for a while and beach it.

“So it’s a completely different track. Maybe where you’re not limited by power, we still have fun, but the best parts of the track are Copps and Becketts and Stowe and the power is going down in those parts. Hopefully they’ll fix it for next year.”

He added that Ferrari’s deficit to Mercedes could be “two-fold” given the nature of the track at last weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix.

Several drivers made similar comments to Hamilton.

Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso said: “Even with no deployment, we can’t forget that this year we have significantly less power than last year and less power than F2. That’s when they cut the deal. So yes (a) challenge.”

But Mercedes driver George Russell, who won in Austria, said it would have a significant impact on the race.

“We know we’re going to have some tracks where the straight line speeds are a lot faster than last year and some tracks are going to be more challenging,” Russell said.

“On the other hand, the race can be a lot of fun. And on those power-hungry tracks so far, Melbourne has been a lot of fun, especially in the race.

“And I don’t think you really know unless you look at the crowd. You’ve got 600,000 fans here. I’d say maybe 95% of them don’t notice. And even the hardcore fans from outside, I don’t think you really notice. They only listen when they’re on the board, it doesn’t look good.”

Russell said the problem was exacerbated by governing body the FIA’s decision to change from one to three laps and not allow straight-line mode in the race between Copes and Beckett.

This was done for security reasons. The decision could have been overturned at Thursday morning’s meeting, but five of the 11 groups opposed it.

Russell said: “All the teams had to agree. There were five teams, I don’t know exactly why. If anything, you say the Mercedes teams were against it because we should have the advantage of the deployment. But we were the only ones in favor because we thought it would be better. And I drove the car with and without the SIM (simulator) and it makes a big difference.”

Sources said some teams had concerns about the safety of parts of the track where the direct mode could be restored.

F1 has already made decisions Change the ratio of internal combustion and electricity To alleviate this problem in the next two seasons.