Formula 1 races are set to be a bit more “chaotic’ in 2026 thanks to quirks of the new rules, reckons world champion Lando Norris.
While an increased reliance on the battery element of the all-new cars means they have a lot of power, those batteries run out of energy and need to be constantly recharged.
And that means there are occasions when drivers will run out of boost around the lap, which can leave them vulnerable to an attack by their rivals who have more power on tap.
For Norris, who got his first taste of the F1 2026 machinery during last week’s first pre-season test at Barcelona, the big speed differentials between cars that have maximum power versus those that don’t is going to trigger a lot of toing and froing of positions.
“You'll see more moves with extra speed,” he said speaking to selected media this week.
“But then that person might have to defend more than what you've seen in the past.
“And that will create more chaos, which is great for you guys.”
Norris suggested that things will be made more hectic by how easy the passing will be on the straights, and even in places where in the past it was nearly impossible to overtake.
“I think what you're going to see is generally just more that you can have almost more chaotic racing depending on when people use the boost button and at what times,” he said.
“There's a lot of straights and places, even at Barcelona, where you don't really deploy the battery that much. Let's say between Turn 5 and Turn 7. It's a little straight.
“But if you use boost out of it, you gain a good amount of horsepower. And you can overtake someone into T7, which you've never normally seen before.
“The only thing is, then you're screwed down to T10. So yeah, you'll be able to force people more in different positions and kind of create racing, potentially in better ways than you have been able to in the past.”
High-speed chess
This rapid shuffling of positions as energy levels ebb and flow between cars will put the onus on drivers to cleverly manage where they choose to harvest their battery power and where they choose to deploy it.
Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli thinks it is going to require some strategic thinking in the cockpit to come out on top.
“The way you race, the way you have to use your energy while fighting with others, that is a very big step,” he said.
“I think this year, you have to come into the season very open-minded and, in some ways, you need to be very creative as well.
"You can play so much with the energy, especially when fighting other people.
“It's like playing chess, but like a kind of speed chess. Obviously, you don't have as much time to think for every move, but this year you always have to try and be two steps ahead of the others.”
Norris agrees that drivers are going to have to be very switched on in how they plan things, especially if things get a bit crazy around them.
“I certainly think there's a bit more emphasis on how the driver can handle and control all of these things, both in a qualifying lap, but also in racing situations,” he said.
“I think it's going to be more complicated to understand, [especially] how to prepare overtakes.
“Before it was pretty simple in terms of you drive as quickly as possible, but avoid the dirty air. It was quite easy to build up the battery in a good and efficient way.
“Now, when you use up your battery, you are going to lose quite a bit of time, and you're going to lose a lot more on the straights.
“So I think you're going to see more chaos and races where a driver has to be a little bit more on top of all of these different situations that can happen.”
Not convinced yet
Norris has said he has been encouraged by some of the characteristics of the F1 2026 cars - such as the way the power is deployed so rapidly.
However, he says he would love to experience them where the energy does not run out so rapidly.
“It certainly feels more powerful,” he said. “Right now, you stop deploying halfway down the straight but if you didn’t, and you just let it run to the max, you'd easily be hitting probably 380km/h or something.
“So the cars, effectively, could do a lot more. So if you would say, unleash the F1 car, you could almost achieve even more.”
He also suggested that the first feedback of how they handled and behaved around Barcelona has not yet convinced him - which is why he wants to see them on a different type of track.
"It feels more like an F2 car in some ways, with how you have to drive it," he said. "I don't know if I like that or not, for the time being, but I think we understood quite a few things already from Barcelona on how you had to drive the car.
"But Barcelona, you're talking about fourth gear corners, third gear corners, quite open, quite wide, When you get to a street track or bumpier tracks, slower tracks? That's a question we have yet to answer.
"But Bahrain will answer some of those questions."
