High-profile drivers, led by Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, have publicly blasted the 2026 rules because the battery’s 50/50 power role is producing energy-management, boost-like overtakes that many say feel inauthentic and have triggered urgent talks about changing the regulations.
Under the new power units, the battery supplies about half of total output. That shifts control away from the throttle and brake to how and when the car harvests and deploys energy. Drivers now pace their laps around charge windows. Passes can come when one car dumps stored energy while the other is harvesting, then reverse as the roles flip. The racing can look busy, with more swaps, but some in the paddock argue it rewards timing the battery rather than reading grip, braking late, or managing tires.
Verstappen has been outspoken, saying the wheel-to-wheel action looks closer to Mario Kart than to what fans expect from Formula 1. Norris has described feeling forced into passes by the battery profile and then unable to hit back once his deployment window closed. Pierre Gasly has taken a more nuanced view. He accepts the negativity around the style of passes but says car balance, traction, and grip limits still set the boundaries of what is possible on corner entry and exit.
Suzuka underlined how track layout shapes the effect. The Japanese Grand Prix featured swings that traced back to when and where the batteries could recharge. Position swaps between Norris and Lewis Hamilton illustrated the pattern. Suzuka’s flow compresses charging chances. Long straights feed short chicanes, which leaves fewer places to harvest heavily without giving up time. That constrains how much electrical power is available for the next attack and can shift overtaking from classic braking zones to parts of the lap where deployment peaks.
Teams, drivers, and officials are now preparing a crunch meeting to consider adjustments. The aim is to keep the 50 percent electrical target while handing more agency back to the driver. Andrea Stella has floated a targeted regulatory option. He suggests allowing engineers to mark specific parts of the lap where, after a lift, drivers can apply engine power without electrical deployment. That could let a driver commit to an overtake on feel, not only on a battery burst, while still meeting efficiency goals.
Any such change carries trade-offs. Defining zones would add engineering complexity and new rules to police. The balance between harvesting, fuel flow, and lap time would shift again, and teams would chase the next optimization. Yet the proposal reflects a shared push to align the technology with racing that looks and feels more controlled by the person in the cockpit, not by the timing of a charge bar.