Is the 2026 Regulation going to achieve it goal?

[Steve Boyd]

I think the chassis changes are positive.
Cars seem to be able to follow closely for longer than in the past and being narrower should make it a bit harder to defend. I'm not too bothered if the cars are a bit slower in the corners due to reduced downforce, as it's hard to see the difference on TV.

The power unit regulations still need work though.

[Nitrodaze]

I think the chassis changes are positive.
Cars seem to be able to follow closely for longer than in the past and being narrower should make it a bit harder to defend. I'm not too bothered if the cars are a bit slower in the corners due to reduced downforce, as it's hard to see the difference on TV.

The power unit regulations still need work though.

Quite the pickle, isn't it? 50:50 split with a small battery not able to hold a charge for a full lap, suggests someone got their maths wrong. It would be interesting to see how they resolve this one. I think they would kick their green credentials to the kerb to save face.

[Steve Boyd]

I've been looking at the regulations here:
https://www.fia.com/system/files/doc...2026-02-27.pdf

The diagram on page C64 shows the limits and, while there is 9MJ recharge available per lap, the battery capacity available is only 4MJ. The actual capacity of the battery will be more than this as they don't last very long if they are cycled from 0 to 100%. If we assume they cycle the battery between 20% & 80% then the actual capacity of the battery will be around 6.7MJ.

They've got 4MJ capacity that they can discharge as much as they like but they can only put 9MJ back in per lap so the temptation is going to be to take 4MJ out and then try to top the battery up wherever they can before taking out what they've just put back until they reach the 9MJ charge limit.

I wonder, somewhat counter intuitively, if the solution is to reduce the 4MJ battery capacity limit. OK - there will be less energy to deploy so the cars will be slower but they'll spend less time recharging so we'll see less of the "clipping" modes that hamper straight line speed. It might make for closer racing without the hazardous speed differentials that are currently possible.