Albon offers a grim assessment of F1’s new regulations

Alexander Albon has expressed doubts about new F1 regulations due to be introduced in 2026, saying he thinks “some work needs to be done” to ensure the cars are not “very slow”.

The Williams driver has shared his concerns over power unit regulations, which will require the chassis and aerodynamic rules to be “extremely complex” to compensate for the direction F1 is heading with new engines.

The increased reliance on hybrid powertrain components will naturally result in a loss of top speed generated by the engine – something that is compensated for by active aerodynamics known as X and Z modes. Albon, however, remains unconvinced and favors a more direct approach.

I’m not speaking out of turn, but I think it will be very slow. Extremely slow,” the 28-year-old told the media Racing News365.

“So I guess there are a lot of things being done to make sure that the speed on the straights doesn’t decrease at the end (of the straights) with the MGU-K (Engine Generator Unit – Kinetic) and so on. .. I still think there is still some work to be done.

“I think it looks like getting back what the engine tune-ups create means things get incredibly complicated.

“The whole aero path, we’ll go down… I’d rather have a little bit simpler engines, a little more maybe standard parts in the engines or whatever it might be, and just go back to kind of a more basic regulation.”

The demands have shifted to teams

One of the main goals of the regulations is to improve racing characteristics and increase overtaking, which is directly influenced by the size and weight of F1 cars – both of which have long been criticized and there was a widespread belief that the cars were too big and too heavy.

The 2026 regulations therefore aim to make cars more “agile”, with cars expected to be 30 kg lighter than the current regulations. However, for Albon the responsibility is transferred to the teams and this is not clearly defined in the regulations.

“Let’s see, let’s see. I mean lighter, but that’s what teams make them lighter,” he replied when told that lighter, shorter and narrower cars were a step in the right direction.

“I don’t know what parts of the rules allow them to be lighter – I don’t know the details about that. I don’t know if they give us lighter halos or lighter wheels or something like that, but I don’t know. Don’t think that weight comes for free.

“It’s more of a commitment from the teams to try and get down to that weight. Car size is the right direction in my opinion. I am not speaking negatively about this. I just think there are pros and cons around the whole thing.”