The FIA was “heavily influenced” by “one or two manufacturers” when deciding on the 2026 Formula 1 technical regulations, according to design guru Adrian Newey.
The outgoing Red Bull Chief Technical Officer believes the FIA made several compromises to attract more manufacturers to enter when F1 undergoes its next reset.
However, Newey doesn’t think that has been the best approach to take with the latest guidelines on the rules as he argues that brands “come and go” from the series.
“At the moment, they look a slightly strange set of regulations but to write them off and say therefore they won’t be good, it’s way too premature,” he told Autosport.
“There comes a point where always as a designer you first look at what they might be and you might then have an opinion ‘are they good or are they bad’ but at some point, you have to ignore that and just get on with the challenge of it.”
Newey then explained his discomfort with the planned 50/50 split on the new powertrains between electric and horsepower causing a greater reliance on the chassis.
“It’s certainly going to be a strange formula in as much as the engines will be working flat-chat as generators just about the whole time,” he expanded.
“So, the prospect of the engine working hard in the middle of Loews hairpin is going to take some getting used to.
“It is fair to say that the engine regulations were created and pushed through without very much thought to the chassis side of it.
“And that is now creating quite large problems in terms of trying to come up with a solution to work with it.
“But I think the one good thing is that it does promote efficiency.
“And I think anything that does that, and promotes that, has to be in line with what I said earlier: of trying to use F1 to popularise a trend.”
Newey questioned where the sporting priorities lie, as he suspects the FIA has intended to appease certain manufacturers rather than angling to create the best rules.
“The FIA appears to be heavily influenced by one or two manufacturers, in the hope they will appease those manufacturers but also perhaps attract others in,” he expressed.
“I suppose since Audi are coming in for 2026 there has been a partial success in this regard, but I’m not sure it’s worth the overall compromise of what could be achieved.
“The reality is manufacturers come and go, with the exception of Ferrari.
“It’s the teams that are core to the business and then of course the big actual core is the viewing public.
“So it’s essential we provide a good show and as part of that variety is proven to be well rewarded,” concluded Newey.
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