Formula 1 figureheads have quelled concerns that next year’s brand new cars will be slower to the point of being closer to current Formula 2 speeds.
2026 sees F1 begin a new era with a raft of new technical regulations, the cornerstone being a new power unit that boasts an equal split between electric and ICE power.
These are naturally going to leave lap times slower than the current cars, with the battery within the power unit requiring recharging on every lap.
It has already been largely accepted that the cars will be slower, but the FIA’s single-seater director, Nikolas Tombazis, was asked about apparent driver concerns that the cars will be dropping to speeds similar to F2.
Quite the drop off if it were true, but Tombazis explained to Motorsport Week that, whilst lap times will indeed be slow, but not by that much, and indicated the projected differences will be part of its teething problems.
“I think comments about Formula 2 pace are way off the mark,” he said. “We are talking about lap times overall which are in the region of one or two seconds off where we are now, depending on the track, depending on the conditions, and obviously at the start of a cycle it would be silly to be faster than the previous cycle.
“It would cost us nothing from a regulation, but it would be very easy to make the cars go faster, but one has to gradually claw back what is gained by natural development.
“So you can’t start the cycle going faster than the previous one, then in 20 years from now you can imagine what would happen. So I think it’s natural the cars are a bit slower, but I don’t think we are anywhere near the sort of it’s not Formula 1 discussion in any way or shape.
Red Bull makes track dependency case about 2026 F1 car speeds
Red Bull Chief Engineer Paul Monaghan explained that the drop in speeds and laptimes may be more extreme depending on which circuit the cars are competing.
“For me it’s a little bit track dependent,” he addressed.
“We have what we might term energy-rich circuits and the energy-poor circuits, where it’s easier to fill the energy store with energy, and then the lap time is a little bit slower.
“Some of the poor ones where we’re struggling a little bit at the moment, we’re a bit more than that off, but it’s one of the great difficulties at the moment is trying to actually establish how much grip we’re going to have.
“We have an aero map and it says we’ll make this level of downforce and is it actually reality?
“Once we have the final tyres from Pirelli, maybe they’re a little bit worse and it has quite a knock-on effect to your overall lap time. So yes, they’ll be a little bit slower.
“I don’t think we’ll be at F2 pace, I hope not. So that’s where we would be.”
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