Red Bull: 'Engine and chassis rules should have been alligned'

Red Bull Racing thinks Formula 1 have missed the mark by not drafting the engine rules and chassis rules at the same time. While the regulations both take effect in 2026, they cannot exactly be said to be aligned. According to technical director Pierre Waché, this is not anything but convenient.

"They should have come up with both regulations at the same time, but that is with the knowledge of today," Waché said in an interview with Motorsport.com. "For us it wasn't easy to do everything at the same time either, as we were obviously pushing full steam ahead to win both championships. But that [both regulations were not drawn out at the same time] is the biggest problem. I don't really want to blame them [FIA and F1] for that, but it is what it is. We have to put up with it now and, above all, we have to learn from this for next time."

F1 face challenge

The engine regulations are going through a major overhaul in 2026. This was done to convince Audi and Honda to enter Formula 1 as engine suppliers. The MGU-H will disappear and electric power will increase to around 50 per cent. This does mean that the engines will be less powerful, leading to the need to reduce the amount of drag in order to maintain 'F1-worthy' speeds.

This, in turn, was not taken into account when making the chassis rules. Red Bull therefore suggested making an adjustment to the new engine regulations, but this met with a lot of resistance from the other teams in the premier class of motorsport. Waché agrees that it is now too late to make such a change and argues that for the problem that has arisen, it is now necessary to look towards more active aerodynamics.

By deploying more active aerodynamics with the front and rear wings, more drag can be developed in the corners, while on the straights drag will be low. This should ensure that lap times do not slump too much.