2026 regulations, Adrian Newey’s doubts
Adrian Newey is focused solely on 2026, the year that will see the debut of the first Aston Martin entirely designed and “signed” by him. It’s a challenge the Briton has taken on to cap off an extraordinary career and attempt to bring a fourth team to the top of F1 after Williams, McLaren, and Red Bull.
However, for Lawrence Stroll’s mission to succeed, Newey alone won’t be enough: 2026 is also the year of regulatory changes on both the aerodynamic and engine fronts. This revolution doesn’t convince the brilliant designer, who is worried about the new engines, which he believes will offer little spectacle, and a series of overly strict rules that could tie the teams’ hands and quickly make the cars too similar.
Adrian Newey’s comments
“The FIA’s original idea was 400 kilowatts from the power unit and 400 kilowatts from the hybrid part. Then they realized that value from the electric side was too much to be sustainable, so they reduced it to 350,” Adrian Newey commented on the *Autocar* podcast. “But even now, the power from the PU is still too high, and there’s still concern that cars will go much slower at the end of the straight than at the beginning because they’ve run out of battery. This regulation was introduced, I believe, mainly to try to keep existing manufacturers and attract new ones. And in that sense, you can say it has succeeded, as Audi will enter, while Honda changed its decision and will stay. But I think it will be a problem for the spectacle.” – he pointed out.
“It’s a huge change. It may have happened in the distant past, but I can’t remember the last time we had completely new regulations for both the power unit and the chassis at the same time,” – the Aston Martin engineer continued. “Actually, the engine regulations, since their research timelines are much longer than those for chassis development, were set some years ago without properly considering what chassis regulations were needed to adapt. So the FIA, with the support of the teams, is struggling with this issue. And it’s still unclear how it will turn out. To be honest, I would have done the opposite. I believe that, first of all, the most important thing for Formula 1 is the individuality of the cars: if the regulations, especially the aerodynamic ones, become too restrictive, all the cars will start to look alike. And if you look at other categories that have become one-make series, IndyCar is perhaps the best example: it went from a highly successful series with many manufacturers, up until the mid-90s, to a single manufacturer, Dallara. Now everyone races with the same car, and the public interest has waned.” – the legendary car designer concluded.
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