The first real glimpse of F1 in 2026 was grim. Can anything be done to fix it?

The first qualifying session of the 2026 Formula 1 season was a depressing experience for those who love to watch Formula 1 cars being driven at the limit of adhesion.

I’ve watched hundreds of pole-winning laps but George Russell’s today is a truly strange thing to behold. As was widely predicted before the season began, F1’s new power units are forcing the drivers to adopt driving techniques which appear utterly alien.

To begin with, the days when a driver would open a qualifying lap by carrying every last fraction of speed out of the final corner are clearly over. Russell cruised out of the last corner, then suddenly picked up speed when he reached the optimum moment to engage the car’s battery.

As early as turn one he began backing out of the throttle much earlier than necessary, all to preserve that precious store of electrical power. He did the same again at turn three. Say goodbye to the last-of-the-late-brakers drama of qualifying sessions past.

Through the long, energy-sapping run from turns six to 11, Russell had to take even greater care to keep his battery topped up. At turn six he lifted off early and dropped down at least one extra gear to spin the engine up and boost the battery further.

But as has become painfully clear over the weekend so far, the approach to turn nine is the real jaw-dropper. Here drivers have shed as much as 50kph off their top speed in the acceleration zone leading into what should be Albert Park’s most fearsome corner.

Russell was no different. His car’s engine note began to drop far before the fast left-hander, then he dropped a gear, then another. To the uninitiated his approach looks like a fearful rookie tip-toeing around an unfamiliar circuit in a car far too powerful for them, not an F1 star fully on top of his car and wringing every last thousandth from it.

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There is no doubt Russell and his 21 rivals (minus those whose cars weren’t working) were all striving to exploit their cars to the fullest. They are still doing battle with the laws of physics.

Nor is it novel that energy limits should impinge upon how fast a driver can go – we’ve seen this in grands prix for years, even if F1 has preferred not to draw attention to it.

Nor is it even the case that these new cars are excessively slow. Compared to the last time F1 introduced a major change in its chassis rules in 2022, Russell’s 1’18.518 is just six tenths of a second slower.

But over a single flying lap, these rules have created a paradigm shift. These cars may challenge drivers’ technical abilities at the wheel, but the driving challenge has been neutered. The 2026 F1 rules have made qualifying laps look like cool-down laps.

This was foreseen, to an extent, and both arms of F1’s management have conceded changes may be needed. Formula One Management CEO Stefano Domenicali may have airily dismissed concerns over the new rules as mere “panic”, but he also made it clear rules changes would follow if needed. The FIA opted to keep the rules as they were for the start of the season because “premature change carried the risk of increased instability” but left the door open for revisions “once more data becomes available.”

F1 is clearly right to avoid the temptation to knee-jerk in reaction. The race is the main event and much remains to be discovered about how the 2026 cars will perform over a grand prix distance.

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Given the track’s configuration, this problem was always going to be particularly acute in Melbourne. That said, some upcoming circuits may pose similar challenges, notably Suzuka and Jeddah.

The FIA has various mechanisms available in the rules to tailor energy use by circuit. The selection of where to allow drivers to use Straight Mode to reduce drag will be vital. However it’s clear the FIA is wary of permitting it to be used too freely in curved acceleration zones: it temporarily agreed to a request to deactivate the fourth Straight Mode zone approaching turn nine before final practice, before complaints by teams led to a U-turn.

One radical idea would be to emulate Formula E by requiring circuits to have frequent slow corners, giving drivers more opportunity to charge their batteries. But that would be unpopular, expensive and likely impractical in many cases.

F1’s capacity to test any changes will be limited at the next round in China as it is a sprint event and has only a single practice session. After Japan the next two traditional-format rounds – Bahrain and Saudi Arabia – appear likely to be cancelled, and then it’s back-to-back sprint rounds and the outlier track of Monaco.

While F1 may be able to mitigate the problem through rules and configuration tweaks, the situation may improve as engine manufacturers find ways to improve performance and efficiency. But at the same time chassis refinements could add more downforce and drag, which wouldn’t help.

Whatever F1 does it will face the essential problem that its 2026 regulations have designed in a glaring flaw. Engineering it out again before the new engines are replaced – currently slated for 2031 – may prove very difficult.

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