Carlos Sainz has said “It’s a pity” that the 2026 rules reset will blow apart the Formula 1 pecking order after the field has converged so well.
The 2024 campaign was one for the history books with seven different race winners, the most since eight to victory in 2012.
All seven race winners won multiple races, which was an F1 first and four different teams won races.
Those were Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes, all of whom won a GP during the last five races.
2025 is the final year of the current rules cycle and with the performance window converging further, it is set to be a tightly contested season, but that means the rules reset in 2026 could likely blow things wide open once again, which Sainz told media including Motorsport Week “is a shame.”
Speaking after qualifying for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Sainz said: “I think Formula 1 is in a good space right now, with a level playing field between driver being important, but also the team.
“I think teams are given more equal opportunity to fight,” he continued.
“And it’s not only all about budget. It’s the people, it’s the infrastructure that you can have, that you can achieve. And you can see it with McLaren, you can see it with the top four teams right now, we are all within a couple of tenths of one another, and it makes the Drivers’ Championship more fair because the driver can make more of a difference, but also the Constructors’ Championship more fair.
“And it’s a shame in a way that this is resetting in ‘26 because I feel like Formula 1 is for once in a very, very long time achieving a level playing field among all teams and all drivers to show who is the best team but who is also the best driver.
“And yeah, I think that it’s a bit of a pity.”
Why will 2026 change things?
In 2026, the cars are getting lighter, shorter and narrower with the addition of movable aerodynamics at the front and rear.
Moreover, the 2026 power units will feature a greater reliance on electrification.
This large rules shift gives teams the opportunity to get things very right, or very wrong as has been the case in previous rule cycle introductions.
In 2014, Mercedes got the jump on everyone and dominated the sport for years to come, winning eight straight Constructors’ titles.
It was Red Bull’s turn to get things right in 2022 and the team capitalised to win two Drivers’ and Constructors’ doubles in a row, with 2023 being a record-breaking year.
This coincided with Mercedes getting things wrong and still fighting to claw its way back to title contention.
With F1 enjoying its most competitive season in modern history, Sainz is right in saying “It’s a shame” this could be torn up in just over a year’s time.
Still, the much-talked-about convergence that many feared would never come after Max Verstappen won 19 out of 22 races in 2023 arrived with gusto last year.
So, even if 2026 blows the field open again, hopefully, teams can find a way to tighten things up in good time.
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