Coulthard warns F1 2026 regs may change the face of racing

David Coulthard has voiced his concerns regarding the potential impact of the 2026 F1 regulations on Grand Prix racing’s core identity.

The FIA's June unveiling of the technical regulations for 2026, with its focus on a much larger electrification element, has sparked discussions about a fundamental shift in Formula 1.

For the first time in the hybrid era, power will be split equally between the internal combustion engine and electrical power, with the complex MGU-H system being dropped.

Last year, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner expressed his fears of F1 designs becoming “Frankenstein cars” and much too slow because using almost 50% electrical power was impractical.

Horner’s Mercedes counterpart Toto Wolff also recently voiced his worries over the speed of F1’s 2026 machines, although he hoped that engineering development would boost performance over time.

However, Coulthard highlights a more fundamental change on the horizon: the lap profile itself.

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“I remember years ago, when I was a driver being asked ‘what do I think about the regulations?’ I said I don’t and that was my job at the time,” Coulthard explained in an interview with PlanetF1.

“It’s for Adrian [Newey], the technical team, to think about the regulations.

“It’s my job to think about the sporting rules, what can I exploit, what are the scenarios where I could gain an advantage? I was very much focused on areas that I could influence.

“Having said that, I have a concern that I feel is shared by the engineers and drivers that as we increase them to a 50/50 electrical, internal combustion that changes the profile of the lap and how the cars develop.

“In classic racing terms. Your Vmax [maximum velocity] is at the end of the straights and then you brake into the corner.

“There is the potential reality that they’ll accelerate, and then they’ll start decelerating towards the braking zone so your Vmax will be somewhere around the middle of the straight, which is a different way of racing.

“If they’re slower at the braking zone, they’ll brake later. So we could end up with a shorter braking distance which may be detrimental to overtaking – so Daniel Ricciardo’s dives on the inside may not happen.”

“They will all race it, the best drivers will win, the best teams will win. But how we perceive [it will change].”

Coulthard’s Channel 4 colleague and fellow F1 veteran Mark Webber also conveyed his worries regarding F1’s next-generation cars, and specifically their weight.

While the increased reliance on hybrid technology will inherently add more pounds to the cars, a shorter and narrower chassis should result in a 30 kg reduction in overall weight.

But that won’t cut it as far as Webber is concerned.

“The weight is a big problem,” he told PlanetF1.com. “I mean, they’re just too heavy.

“All the drivers would love the cars to be lighter and when you put in another 20 kilos in, you’ve got to put more weight in to make it safer.

“30 kilos less is like one string on a tennis racket. It’s nothing. So they need to really try to get 150 kilos out of the car in the future.

“They’re safer too. It’s not as safe for the drivers when the cars are heavier.

“I have crashed in the same corner in a light Formula 1 car and a heavy sports car in Brazil and in the impact, it is really not helpful to have the extra weight because the drivers are still part of that inertia. So to have a lighter car is much safer.”

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