Former System 1 driver David Coulthard believes that Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and Max Verstappen will not like the brand new 2026 rules as a result of they “virtually must be mechanical” contained in the automotive slightly than driving on intuition.
The 2026 rules embrace an virtually 50-50 cut up between inside combustion and electrical energy, smaller, lighter automobiles and different adjustments, reminiscent of lively aerodynamics on the entrance and rear wing changing DRS.
As pre-season testing continues in Bahrain, some drivers have been vital concerning the new rules, particularly four-time champion Verstappen, who likened it to “System E on steroids”.
“I feel, although, all three guys you simply talked about there [Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and Max Verstappen] over the last hybrid period with the large ground-effect tunnels that that they had, they have been all a bit destructive concerning the driving expertise,” Coulthard defined on the Up To Velocity podcast.
“They simply wish to be again to pure racing, flat-out racing from begin to end. So with these new regs, there’s much more complexity administration. 50% of the vitality comes from a battery, 50% comes from an inside combustion engine. So, they’re really turning into much more the supervisor of the automotive slightly than the driving force purely of the automotive.
“And I feel that is the place, for them, the difficulty is available in as a result of as a driver, you wish to be driving a automotive from a degree of intuition. You are driving, you are attempting to get the most effective out of the automotive. Now, it seems like they virtually must be mechanical inside making adjustments, and it simply would not come naturally, and it would not actually award the most effective driver.”
David Coulthard, Presenter, Channel 4 F1
Photograph by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Photographs
Former W Collection driver and Sky Sports activities F1 presenter Naomi Schiff added: “What I’ll say about regulation adjustments is that, while sure, change all the time comes with a little bit of pushback. And sure, this time round it looks as if there’s much more push again, and there are most likely a whole lot of issues that have to be solved.
“It additionally comes as a giant alternative. I imply keep in mind 2009 – Brawn got here out, smashed it. Then 2014, it turned the period the place Mercedes dominated. 2022, Pink Bull actually understood the bottom impact period rather well. And now the query mark is who’s going to steer right here?”
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