Formula 1 has entered the decisive phase in the battle for the new rules for 2026. The first version of the technical regulations was published a week ago and is soon to be approved by the World Motor Sport Council via e-vote. Resistance is growing among the teams. Motorsport-Magazin.comExpert Christian Danner sees clearly – the problems are much older. With an engine for which there is a clear solution.
The regulations for the new engine, which will be introduced in 2026, have long been fixed. A newly designed hybrid concept that pursues the ambitious goal of generating a good half of the power via the electric component. This is proving increasingly difficult.
“What we see is a car that is problematic in terms of powertrain,” is Danner’s conclusion in the ‘AvD Motorsport Magazine’. This is making the rules increasingly complicated. Not only on the engine side, for example with a new concept for an overtake mode. The new and controversial chassis rules are also considered to be so difficult because aspects such as active aerodynamics are now being used to compensate for the challenges on the engine side.
Danner demands: Formula 1 must become simpler again
At the same time, however, the car is still supposed to make racing better by being smaller and generating less turbulent air. “So that’s all very deliberate,” Danner is concerned. “Sorry, but I think something simpler would be better for everyone involved.”
But it is now too late for that, Danner regrets. The chassis rules will in all probability change even after their first adoption by the World Motor Sport Council. Even the FIA on schedule. But the power unit rules require a much longer lead time. Not least because of the complexity. The manufacturers have been developing them for years. It is practically impossible that anything significant can be changed here.
Danner is therefore already looking ahead to the next regulation period, towards 2030. With concern: “Formula 1 only has a future if the viewer can understand what is being presented to him. If he can consume it without always having to Google what they actually mean.”
Danner’s dream Formula 1 engine: This is how it goes back to the V8
“I love motorsport, where you drive at full speed, from start to finish, as well as you can,” Danner says clearly. And he also knows perfectly well how Formula 1 can achieve this goal: “Personally, I would like Stefano Domenicali to get his wish.” A few weeks ago, the F1 CEO himself cautiously commented for the first time that it would be necessary to evaluate whether hybrid still has a future.
Danner can see some merit in Domenicali’s dream: “By saying, look, what’s the point? We’re using e-fuels, so we’re CO2-neutral, we’re putting in a nice engine, a small eight-cylinder or something like that, and that’s it. It pushes, and we’re CO2-neutral. That’s Domenicali’s wish, and I wish it a little bit too.”
This is a plan that is not actually out of the question for Formula 1 from 2030 onwards. But today it is only in the earliest planning stages. It will be a long time before there is even a rough concept for the future. And engine regulations in the premier class ultimately depend heavily on the manufacturers. What they want to present and market.
In the latest issue of the ‘AvD Motorsport Magazine’, Christian Danner not only analyses the latest developments surrounding the 2026 rules, but also the balance of power, Ferrari, Mercedes and the effects for Lewis Hamilton: