2026 Formula 1 cars will “occupy a lot of brain space while driving”

Carlos Sainz believes the 2026 Formula 1 cars will be so complex that they will “occupy a lot of brain space” behind the wheel, as concerns continue to mount over the impact of the new regulations.

F1 is set for one of its biggest technical overhauls in history next year, with both the chassis and engine rules being revamped at the same time.

At the heart of the shift is a new power unit concept, which will generate 50% of its output from electric components and the rest from a 1.6-litre V6 internal combustion engine.

Several drivers have already sampled early versions of the 2026 car in simulators, and many have voiced concern about how the changes will affect racing.

Sainz said the next-generation power units will greatly increase the workload on drivers, although he expects the field to gradually adapt to the changes.

"Very complicated, it occupies a lot of brain space while you're driving,” the Williams driver said of 2026 cars.

“But if you ask Lewis [Hamilton], [he] was in the big regulation change between 2013 and 2014, going from a normal V8 to a complex V6 with battery management and all these things. 

“At the time, it was a shock how much the driver had to think about things that before on the V8 we would never think about. But then we all get used to it, we all adopt it and now it feels normal.

“With next year it is gonna feel and happen something similar.  At the beginning, we are all like, 'What the hell is going on here and why do we need to do so much of this and why is the car feeling different every lap'.

“But then by the time we start racing with it and the races start to go by, everything will feel more natural, something that we are more used to and it will become the new normal.

“The big question is whether that new normal is better than the old normal. This is the million dollar question that everyone wants to have a say and everyone wants to have an opinion or have an opinion about.

“But as drivers we will just adapt to whatever they give us. We will just go as fast as we can if we have to do six or seven switch changes through the lap, we will do them and we will just become good at it like we always do.”

"The load on the driver is high"

Alex Albon echoed the sentiments of his Williams teammate Sainz, saying the 2026 cars will drastically change the style of driving required to succeed in F1.

“It's difficult to drive. The load on the driver mentally is high as well,” he told the media including Crash.net.

“It's quite important to know how to use the engine and the deployment and you have to learn a different driving style, but it's part of the regulations. It's technology at the end of the day. So on our side, I wasn't that shocked by the car, the performance of the car.

“It was more just getting my head around the PU and understanding how to make the most of that.”

One of the key concerns for teams is the possibility of the cars running out of hybrid energy on long straights, which could force drivers into excessive lifting and coasting.

“In the end I just want good racing,” Albon said. “We all just want good racing. I'm not sure the speeds of the cars or the way that they're driven is going to change too much.

“I don't think it's become kind of Formula E style where you know you're getting these massive lift and coast sessions and all these kinds of things. But I don't think it will change too much. “

Albon said the new regulations will reward drivers who are willing to adapt and have a better understanding of the new power units.

He added: “I'm not moaning. I'm just saying it's different. Like it's really different to drive. The drivers that are really gonna go well on this are the ones that can be really adaptable.

“You're gonna have to have a very open-minded approach to how to drive these cars, and I believe that the drivers who have the capacity to drive and understand how to drive them.

“Even these cars now we are driving them flat out. You have a bit of PU clipping and all these kinds of things, but for next year it's going to be a bit more of a complete package as to how you get to that.

“There is a lot that the driver has to do. I don't think it will always just purely be around how good the driver is around the corner.

“A driver who's quite smart and can understand the system and abuse the system, to understand how it works and becomes efficient on it, they're going to find performance in that as well.”