Victory for Norris shows 2026 regulations should be "pushed back two years"

In 2026, F1's regulations will change once again, meaning every single car on the grid will be redesigned to fit in with these new rules. The major changes to the cars will be that engines will have much more electrical power, along with new chassis introduced by the FIA. The cars will also be shorter and narrower. However, Sky Sports pundit and former F1 driver Karun Chandok believes these regulations should be delayed.

Chandok: 'Team are starting to catch Red Bull with these regulations'

After Lando Norris' fantastic maiden F1 victory at the Miami Grand Prix, it shows that the rest of the front-running teams are catching up to Red Bull, adding a very interesting aspect to this 2024 season. But with these regulations changes coming into force for the 2026 season, Chandok believes it will benefit the bigger teams like Red Bull.

Speaking on the Sky Sports F1 podcast, Chandok started by saying, "I feel like we're just finally getting to this point where they're getting closer because what happens with regulation change is the rich get richer. The teams with more money, more resources, I know we have a budget cap, but actually, they've got more resources in the factory, and they've all got loopholes around the budget cap."

The former HRT and Lotus driver continued on: "I would have loved to see the regulation change pushed back two years. We're getting to this point now where the teams are starting to close in a bit more on Red Bull. Next year will be closer, and then with the hybrid rules coming out for '26, somebody's going to get it massively right, and somebody's going to get massively wrong."

However, Sky Sports reporter Natalie Pinkham disagreed with Chandok and believes that the regulation changes are a part of Formula 1. "But that someone may not be Red Bull," Pinkham said. "We might, as we always do with Formula One, see a cyclical pattern emerge again and a different team come out on top, and that's okay."

"But instead of seeing just one team on top, don't you want to see multiple people fighting, don't you?", challenged Chandok. Pinkham then responded with, "But one or two might get it right Karun, we don't know that it's just going to be one, so you might get what you wish for."