Red Bull has expressed concerns that the new set of Formula 1 regulations in 2026 will see reduced straight-line speed due to a greater reliance on electric propulsion.
The 2026 power unit regulations will see the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) currently in use retained, but the 1.6-litre turbocharged engine will now make up half of a 50/50 power split as a greater reliance on the electrical components will be in play.
The increased hybridisation has caused concerns that there will be a loss of top-end speed as drivers battle to conserve energy for the electrical component of the power unit.
Despite the FIA dismissing these concerns, with plans for active aero devices to help mitigate energy losses, Red Bull Technical Director Pierre Wache is still wary of the potential pitfalls the new engines will endure and the solutions being discussed.
“The speed is going down and the feeling is not so nice,” Wache told Motorsport.com.
“The FIA works with the teams on how this energy will be deployed to make it less annoying for the driver and to have a better speed profile throughout the lap.
“Plus, they also work on the car characteristics to have less drag and less downforce.
“By having less downforce, you recover more energy because you spend more time in the corners and in the braking zones, and then you spend less time on straights.”
One of the elements being discussed in the yet-to-be-confirmed 2026 chassis regulations is the possibility of active aero devices to mitigate speed losses, when this was put to Wache by Motorsport.com, he expressed a desire for more proactive, rather than reactive solutions.
“You cannot put patch on patch on patch to achieve something,” he said.
“You have to look at the problem with a bigger view and say, ‘How do I sort this out and how do I solve my problem?
“What car characteristic do I need to achieve something?’
“If you need a patch to solve some things, you can still do that afterwards. But you don’t start with a patch first. Otherwise, it never works.”
In a bid to improve the racing, the FIA is targeting a weight loss of approximately 40 to 50 kilos, a 200mm reduction in the wheelbase and a car that is 100mm narrower with 16-inch wheels.
All of these targets are part of what the FIA has referred to as a ‘nimble car’ concept, but the problem Wache sees is that by solidifying the direction of the F1 engines separately, any chassis concepts must be reactive to the issues being faced with the power unit.
“The thing is that they didn’t think through the full concept [of these new regulations] at the same time,” Wache added.
“First they defined the engine regulations and now we have to cope with that on the chassis side to compensate for the issue we have.”
Wache admits that even if the FIA wanted to make changes to the engine regulations to alleviate concerns (which it doesn’t) the time has been and gone for such action to occur.
“The problem is that the design time and the development time of an engine are longer than the chassis,” he said.
“So, to change the concept of the ICE, the battery and the electrical power starts to be very difficult for them by now.”
Red Bull’s Chief Technical Officer Adrian Newey meanwhile, has expressed enthusiasm toward the prospect of active aero, suggesting that it will help popularise the technology for use on the road in the drive for efficiency.
Road relevance had a big role to play in F1’s plans for increased hybridisation in 2026 with the hope of attracting more engine manufacturers to the sport.
This in turn has seen the current MGU-H system, one that has little application in road-going vehicles, removed from the incoming power units and the introduction of eco fuels for the ICE element of the 2026 F1 cars.
The net result is that F1 has six registered engine suppliers for 2026: Mercedes, Ferrari, Alpine, Honda, Red Bull Powertrains and Audi.
