Newey outlines a nightmare scenario for F1 in '26 with new regulations
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- Ludo van Denderen
Adrian Newey is currently counting down the days before he can start work at Aston Martin. He will start his work with the British team at the beginning of March, first by reading up fully on the new technical regulations for the 2026 season and beyond. The master designer does not know all the details, but he does not rule out the possibility that Formula 1 will be dominated by one engine supplier for years to come.
Since 1 January this year, Formula 1 teams have been allowed to work on the cars for 2026, with that season having a major regulatory change in chassis and engines. While his future colleagues at Aston Martin are no doubt already thinking hard about the best concept, Newey is still at home due to gardening leave after leaving Red Bull Racing.
Based on Newey's technical insights, he suspects that from '26 onwards in the premier class of motorsport, it will just be the engines that will be decisive - and therefore not the design of the cars: "I think there has to be a big chance that it's an engine Formula 1 at the start [of the new regulations]," says the Brit at Auto, Motor und Sport.
"The reality is I can't remember another time in Formula 1 when both the chassis regulations and the engine regulations have changed simultaneously. And where in this case, the chassis regulations have been very much written to try to compensate, let's say, for the power unit regulations."
A new era like with Mercedes?
Think of the period of dominance by Mercedes, during which Lewis Hamilton strung together world titles. "But there has to be a chance that one manufacturer will come out well on top and it will become a power unit-dominated regulation at least to start with," Newey continued.
Indeed, the designer even reckons with the scenario that the other teams will never be able to catch up with that one dominator at all during the cycle.
"There a chance that if it's on the combustion engine side of it, somebody comes up with a dominant combustion engine, that that will last through the length of the Formula because the way the regulations are written is quite difficult for people who are behind to catch up. If it's on the electrical side, then there's much more ability to catch up if you're behind," Newey believes
This article was written in collaboration with Olly Darcy
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