Racing
© Spencer
Ahead of Monday’s key meeting on possible changes to Formula 1’s 2026 regulations, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said stakeholders are close to agreeing targeted fixes but warned against any major rewrite after only three races.
Wolff’s message before the virtual discussions was clear: improve the weak points of the new rules, especially qualifying and safety, without damaging the parts of the racing that already work. “The discussions that have been taking place between the group of drivers, the FIA, Formula 1, and the teams have been constructive, and we all share the same objectives,” he said. “It’s how can we improve the product, make it out-and-out racing, and look at what can we improve in terms of safety. But act with a scalpel and not with a baseball bat.”
The pressure to act has grown quickly since the 2026 rules came into force. The regulations are built around an approximately 50/50 split between internal combustion and electrical power, which has made energy management a much bigger factor in both qualifying and races. Drivers have complained that they can no longer attack qualifying laps in a natural way because they are constantly managing the battery, while critics have also questioned whether some early-race overtakes are too dependent on differing energy states.
Safety has become the sharper concern after Oliver Bearman’s 50G crash at Suzuka. The incident intensified scrutiny of the large closing-speed differentials created under the new rules and pushed the FIA, Formula 1, teams and drivers into a series of meetings during the April break.
Wolff said the first objective is to make qualifying “more spectacular and enjoyable for the drivers,” while also addressing the safety issues exposed in Japan and protecting “what’s really good within the racing, the overtaking.” He argued that the process has to stay measured because “it’s only three races in” and because Formula 1 has made mistakes before when reacting too heavily. “We need to learn from the past, where sometimes decisions were made in an erratic way, and then we overshot and realised it wasn’t good,” he said.
He also used the debate to call for a more disciplined public tone from those involved in the championship. Toto Wolff, Mercedes team principal, said drivers, teams, the FIA and Formula 1 must act as “guardians of this sport” and keep the most sensitive arguments inside the stakeholder group rather than turn them into a public fight. “We all have our opinions, and that’s absolutely legitimate, but these opinions and discussions should happen among the stakeholders more than in the public eye,” he said. “Because the sport is in a great place... we shouldn’t badmouth our own sport in public.”
Wolff said the aim should be to work from clear, shared objectives and from data rather than nostalgia or tactical self-interest. He argued that the sport has to focus on what fans enjoy, while accepting that not every criticism of the current product should trigger a dramatic response.
For now, he said the discussions are moving in the right direction and that he is “carefully optimistic” good solutions can be ratified quickly. The immediate task is to make the 2026 package safer and more convincing in qualifying without undermining race quality, with Miami the likely target if the stakeholders can align on changes that are, in Wolff’s words, “not overshooting, not undershooting.”