F1’s 2024 and 2025 seasons were called “silly seasons” but this year’s 2026 season has been deemed by fans to be worse.
This year has brought in new regulations which have changed a lot of the mechanics in the cars; these are already controversial three races into the season which is why fans have stated it’s worse and this had lead the organization to review their rules.
The 2024 season was deemed this title because of mid-season driver switches, drivers going to other teams, and a lot of rookies being signed and people being replaced. This made it a messy season and 2025 saw a lot of the impact from that.
Not only are there problems with regulations/rules for the cars this year, there are also now two less races due to the Bahrain Grand Prix and Saudi Arabia Grand Prix getting canceled because of the War, and
will not be rescheduled or replaced.
Ivy Thomas, a sophomore in COMPASS says, “I don’t really understand why the Bahrain Grand Prix and Saudi Arabian Grand Prix weren’t just replaced with another track. There are a lot of former F1 circuits that could have been used instead. It feels like there were other options, and it kind of messes with the flow of the season.”
The regulations that have come in this year have been big problems; the new hybrid power unit V6 engine and a new Energy Recovery System battery that is charged when the cars break. These new engines are creating big gaps in speed which can be extremely problematic when racing.
F1 fan Andrei Cruz is a sophomore in QUEST and said the new regulations have made it “way more complicated because of all the new batteries, overtake modes and the manual override for the front and rear of the car. There’s way more engine clipping [this means a sudden loss of speed on the straights due to the battery running out of energy] so they lose a lot of speed at super long straights like in China.”
Another new change made has been the weight of the car to make it lighter and smaller plus a change of the floor of the car to “less downforce and a higher ride height requirement that should lead to a greater variety of set-ups that suit a greater range of driving styles – thus leveling the playing field” says F1 Correspondent and Presenter Lawrence Barretto for F1.
“I don’t think they’ve leveled the playing field. If anything, they’ve made the gaps bigger,” Thomas added.
Joseph • May 18, 2026 at 11:06 am
On May 1, 2026, Emma Croff wrote an article titled “F1 2026 Season”. This article does an excellent job of making the concepts of the car’s batteries and other component’s issues easier for the reader to understand. With clear and concise explanations of what each term means and does, as well as the current setback that they have, can give anyone a clear view as to why they cause problems. One small suggestion that I would have is when saying two races were canceled because of the “War”, maybe specify that it’s the Iran war, because some readers may be confused or not even know. One question that I have is, has the F1 organization taken any steps since reviewing their new rules to fix them? Besides that, the article was very easy to understand, and gave all the information needed for the reader about the topic at hand.
Audrey Lozano • May 18, 2026 at 11:01 am
I was excited to read this article as a Formula 1 fan, because the new season has been confusing me so far. Croff clarified things about the new system in place for this season, like how the battery works. I agree with what the article is saying about how it creates wider gaps in the playing field. I think it is a very flawed system, and it takes some of the fun out of watching the sport.
I like how Croff added in clarifications when talking about parts of the sport. I have only been watching Formula 1 for a single season, and there are still some things that I am unfamiliar with. These definitions aided my understanding of technical terminology.
Croff also updated me on the fact that the races that were taken out of the season’s schedule are not going to be replaced. I had thought that another track would have been added instead, as Croff mentioned.