When is a Power Struggle not a power struggle
When it's on an F1 car.
Forget Mandy and whether he got a flag no one saw, but which everyone knew about; it was nobody’s job to do anything about it. Forget Keir, who never saw nowt, and I'd be cross if I had, and what is so unbelievable is that I didn't know I hadn't seen it, or even that I knew about it, because I am, after all, only the Prime Minister.
Forget FO jobs for sex offenders' supporters - easier to send them to the Lords, or changing jobs for people who give away islands, who shouldn’t be told about potential ambassadorships. because they’re too stupid to tie their own shoelaces without falling over; or suggesting that someone who has failed HMRC clearance because there is a 3-year backlog of investigations should even be considered for the highest job in the land, or even mentioning a Mumpsimus with their head buried so deep in the sandstorm of fanataical environmental cant that the term “at any price” has become a policy….
No. The real global power struggle is going on a piece of tarmac, where a bunch of (in the main) under-25-year-olds have just told their multi-millionaire bosses to shove a cork in it. Essentially, the F1 drivers have told FIA that their 2026 Technical Regulations are ruining the sport, going to get someone killed, and potentially shorten their careers by turning a great competitive sport into a series of push-button computer games.
The 2026 Technical Regulations weren’t a set of minor tweaks - it was the largest mechanical overhaul in F1 history. At its core was an environmentally driven shift centred on a 50/50 power split between the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) and electrical energy. This led to the high-profile divorce of Red Bull and Honda, with Red Bull betting the house on their in-house Red Bull-Ford Powertrains. Early-season struggles suggest that mastering this complex battery deployment has proven harder than anticipated, allowing Mercedes—who have historically thrived during engine transitions—to leapfrog back to the front with a superior power unit. Meanwhile, the driver market was set ablaze by Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari in 2025, leaving a vacuum at Mercedes that was filled by the meteoric rise of Andrea Kimi Antonelli. Coupled with Lando Norris clinching a maiden title for McLaren in 2025, the old “Verstappen dominance” narrative was shattered.
So far this season, we have had just four GPs, with Mercedes super dominant throughout. But behind them - and indeed in the stands and press rooms at every circuit - the underlying noise has been one of discontent. Firstly, the new engines require a massive amount of energy to charge the batteries for a single qualifying lap, forcing drivers to drive incredibly slowly on their out-laps—sometimes 50% slower than racing speed. This has created “parking lots” at the end of sectors, leading to massive safety concerns and several near-misses in China and Japan.
Secondly, drivers are complaining that the cars feel “schizophrenic” because they all use “active aero” that shifts their wings to a low-drag “X-Mode” on straights and a high-downforce “Z-Mode” in corners. The trouble is the lack of control over when that happens. Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton have also talked about the balance shift being too abrupt, making the cars feel unpredictable at the limit, almost as if the cars are “trying to decide how to drive themselves.” Almost everyone has complained about “Energy Clipping” - where a car completely runs out of battery power halfway down a long straight. This makes the lead car a sitting duck, leading to what some critics call “Highway Passing.” Critics argue it feels less like tactical racing and more like a mathematical game of who saved the most “juice” for the final sector. Finally, the consensus is that while the Mercedes Power Unit is “Best In Class”, the Red Bull-Ford and Audi units are struggling with thermal efficiency.
That all led to yesterday’s online Zoom meeting. between FIA (led by President Mohammed Ben Sulayem) - FOM (Formula One Management): Representing the commercial side - the Engine Manufacturers: CEOs from Ferrari, Mercedes, Renault, Audi, and the Red Bull-Ford partnership - and then finally and most bizarrly all 10 team principals, with Toto Wolff (Mercedes) and Christian Horner reportedly being the most vocal participants. Christian’s viewpoint was almost entirely “I told you so.” He had been very specific in his warnings back in 2023 that the rule changes would create “Frankenstein” cars and that what was needed was permanent aero-based solutions rather than fiddling with electronics.
Except, of course, Christian doesn't have a team to be principal of, having been sacked…. but his attendance confirmed his preeminence in F1 and also seemed to confirm the rumours that he is going to Alpine - for whom he appeared as an adviser! Or did he, because of course Audi are also rumoured to be knocking at the door since Jonathan Wheatley left - after just two GPs?
Rumour has it that Wheatley was deeply frustrated by the bureaucratic “death by committee” culture at Audi/VW. Insiders suggest he felt his hands were tied by German corporate management, making it impossible to run the team with the agile, “Red Bull-style” speed he was used to.
The follow-up rumour - you see this is so much more exciting than bloody Whitehall - is that since Adrian Newey joined Aston Martin from Red Bull as Managing Technical Partner, he has also been acting as the de facto Team Principal. However, Newey is a designer, not a politician. Thus, the story goes that Lawrence Stroll reportedly wants Wheatley to take over the Team Principal role to “unburden” Newey. This would reunite the legendary Red Bull duo (Newey on the car, Wheatley on the pit wall/ and running the shop) that dominated the 2010s and early 2020s… or or or… could it be that Wheatley, as possibly the most valuable free agent in F1 at the moment, is also trying to cut an ownership deal from the same consortium as Horner ffor Alpine!
Anyway, what they decided on the Zoom - and Toto is probably not going with it - is that, starting with the Miami Grand Prix (May 3, 2026):-
The maximum recharge per lap is being reduced from 8 MJ to 7 MJ. This sounds counterintuitive, but it’s intended to stop drivers from doing “glacier-paced” laps just to find that extra 1MJ.
Superclip Power Boost: When the car is “clipping” (harvesting energy), the power rate increases from 250kW to 350kW. This is essentially “fast-charging”—it allows the battery to fill up much quicker, so drivers can spend more time at full throttle.
The Oliver Bearman crash in Japan was a wake-up call about the speed difference between a car on “Boost” and one with a dead battery. The Manual Override (Boost) is now capped at +150kW extra power. Previously, a driver could dump the full 350kW at once, creating a terrifying closing speed on the car ahead. Secondly, the full 350kW will now only be available in “key acceleration zones” (straights/overtaking spots). In twisty, high-speed sections, it will be limited to 250kW to keep the cars stable and safe. In other words, they have reinvented DRS, but using electronics instead of air management.
Race Starts will now include a Low Power Detection system that detects a “bogged” start (abnormally low acceleration). If a car bogs down, the rear and side flashing lights will automatically activate to warn drivers coming up behind at 200mph, and the MGU-K will give the car a “safety kick” of power to get it moving. Mercedes is wary. They had the best energy management system under the old rules, and these changes effectively “level the playing field” just as they were pulling away.
However, what one has to seriously consider in a world where everyone’s skill level is measured in tenths of a second is whether this embrace of computer algorithms that tell the cars, not the drivers, when they can go or not, is sport-enhancing or possibly spelling the end for F1.
Once you start on the road to removing human input, you’re on a very ugly slope.