Lewis Hamilton has issued a striking warning that fans may struggle to understand Formula One’s new regulations for the 2026 season, calling them “ridiculously complex” after having spun while testing his new Ferrari in Bahrain.
Hamilton was speaking at the second pre-season test where the teams are coming to terms with cars and engines that have been subject to what amounts to the biggest single shake-up in the sport’s history, and specifically to how drivers are expected to manage the power of their engines which are now defined by a near 50-50 split between combustion and electrical power.
“None of the fans are going to understand it, I don’t think. It’s so complex. It’s ridiculously complex,” he said. “I sat in a meeting the other day and they’re taking us through it and it’s like you need a degree to fully understand it all.”
Hamilton is far from the only driver to have expressed disquiet at the direction of the new regulations and how energy management, which will affect how drivers approach racing but is managed inside the car and by software, will not be comprehensible. The world champion, Lando Norris, recently expressed similar reservations that the complexity of what was happening within the car and how it affects racing would be hard to explain and largely lost on fans.
The new power units are designed to maximise a trade-off between use of energy across a lap – including a boost mode of electrical power – and recovering that energy, calling for strategic driving and having to employ techniques such as “lift and coast” on straights to recover energy. It is a method that has been used before in F1 for fuel conservation but drivers including Hamilton have expressed concern it will now become too prevalent.
“If you look at Barcelona, for example, we’re doing 600 metres lift and coast on a qualifying lap. That’s not what racing is about,” he said.
Bahrain is the second test of the season and runs until Friday. Max Verstappen was quickest in the first session in the morning with Hamilton in fourth, one second back from the Red Bull driver. Hamilton also spun at turn one where he locked up and lost the rear.
He suffered no damage and continued. He was far from the only driver to slew the car as they come to grips with the challenges dictated by the new engines.
Braking hard into corners is vital for maximum energy recovery while there is an impetus at the same time in certain turns to maintain high revs to minimise turbo-lag on the corner exit, making for a tricky to manage combination.
A final test is set for next week in Bahrain with the first race of the season in Melbourne on 8 March.
