Red Bull's design guru, Adrian Newey admits that the 2026 regulations emphasis on power units will present he and his colleagues with a whole raft of challenges.

In a bid to encourage new manufacturers to the sport, the emphasis, from the outset, was to further increase the electrification side of the power unit, meaning that the battery and internal combustion engine will now both provide 50% of the power.

This in itself is likely to present a number of unique challenges.

"It's certainly going to be a strange formula in as much as the engines will be working flat-chat as generators just about the whole time," Newey told Autosport. "So, the prospect of the engine working hard in the middle of Loews hairpin is going to take some getting used to."

Meanwhile, in a bid to make up for the anticipated energy recovery deficit the sport is looking at active aero, though, as previously reported, this has resulted in a number of issues also.

Indeed, such was the determination to have the engine regulations neatly sewn up for those potential new manufacturers, with just weeks before the 2026 regulations need to be signed off, the sport is still seeking the means to finalise the chassis and aero regulations around them.

"I think that's fair comment," says Newey, "and probably one that even the FIA would acknowledge, that only the engine manufacturers wanted this kind of 50/50 combustion engine with electric.

"I guess it is what their marketing people said that we should be doing," he continues, "and I understand that. It's potentially interesting because F1 can be a fast-track developer of technology. However, the problem potentially on the battery and electric side is the cost currently, certainly of electric motors to F1 standard, plus inverters and batteries. It is very high, but perhaps production techniques in the future will help to bring that down.

"The other problem is the battery. What we need, or what the F1 regulations need out of the batteries in terms of power density and energy density, is quite different to what a normal road car needs. And that in itself means that the battery chemistry, and possibly battery construction is different. So, there's a risk that it won't be directly road-relevant.

"But perhaps that's not the key aspect anyway. The key aspect, certainly for the manufacturers although they will never admit it, is the perception of relevance in the showroom."

As for the aero, which has already resulted in a massive rethink in terms of the need for active aero elements at the front and rear of the cars, Newey admits: "I think it is going to be difficult.

"It is fair to say that the engine regulations were created and pushed through without very much thought to the chassis side of it, and that is now creating quite large problems in terms of trying to come up with a solution to work with it.

"But I think the one good thing out of that, is that it does promote efficiency. And I think anything that does that, and promotes that, has to be in line with what I said earlier, of trying to use F1 to popularise a trend."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by dejan, 18/04/2024 1:38

"I second the suspension part - we had active suspension in the 90s and made the Williams car look like it was racing in a different formula - that's one piece of technology that is also applicable to road cars"

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2. Posted by kenji, 17/04/2024 22:40

"@ Max Noble....Creeping electrification is where it appears to be headed IMO. How long before the 50/50 split changes to 60/40, then 70/30?. Not a very enticing future to look forward to is it?"

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3. Posted by BillH, 17/04/2024 17:37

""The key aspect, certainly for the manufacturers although they will never admit it, is the perception of relevance in the showroom."

or

It's all a load of cobblers (this green agenda in racing) and bring back the V10 etc."

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4. Posted by Spindoctor, 17/04/2024 13:04

"@Tyrbiter & Max Noble - just so. Also @Hobgoblin - you'd be mad to bet against Mr Newey in a formula which it appears will be heavily aero dominated. That's probably why Horner is so sanguine about RBR's PU development.

Quick soapbox moment: If you've got to have active anything, suspension is much more useful for ground effect cars & vastly cheaper. "

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5. Posted by Max Noble, 17/04/2024 12:36

"@Tyrbiter - totally. Like… yay… Where is this going!?"

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6. Posted by Tyrbiter, 17/04/2024 11:24

"I find it hard to understand why any aspect of hybrid power is in F1, or motorsport generally. The 2026 regulations are going to be essentially pointless for F1, how can there be a situation where the ICE is effectively driving a generator flat out even when the road speed is at a minimum? Sounds more like a diesel-electric railway locomotive."

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7. Posted by Alex_V10_USA, 17/04/2024 11:15

"One hopes that synthetic fuels are the future! I'm not at all excited about the tripling of kW battery output in '26."

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8. Posted by Hobgoblin, 17/04/2024 11:09

"If the engine is going to be a flat-chat generator, then it will be running at almost a constant speed all the time for best efficiency. It's going to make engine noise a constant drone rather than what we have now. Hard to see how this will 'improve the show'.

If the aero change is going to be difficult for Adrian, then the rest are going to have a real problem. More RB dominance then?

Have to say, none of this sounds good to me..."

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"It's going to be difficult," admits Newey

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