File this under classic F1 politics: before a wheel’s even turned for 2026, the paddock’s already squabbling about the rulebook—and Stefano Domenicali reckons a lot of it is theatre.
Next year’s regulations promise a wholesale reset, from a fresh chassis concept to the new power unit architecture. It’s the biggest step change the sport has attempted in one hit. Drivers, for now confined to simulator runs, haven’t exactly been raving. Lance Stroll has said he’s “not a fan of the direction.” Charles Leclerc called the early sim spec “not the most enjoyable.” Fernando Alonso, after a single day in the sim, judged it “less performance than this year.” Even Sebastian Vettel has chimed in from the outside, warning that heavier cars are the wrong way to chase lap time.
Domenicali isn’t losing sleep. Speaking on The Race F1 Podcast, the F1 CEO dismissed the mounting criticism as largely tactical — the sort of noise teams and drivers make when there’s competitive advantage on the line. “There are two approaches to new regulations,” he said. “One is tactical; a lot of teams and drivers are playing that game because they have some purpose.” The other, he added, is acknowledging the ruleset is still moving. What was debated with the FIA, teams and drivers at the start of the year has already evolved, and the early hand-wringing about “lift and coast” fuel saving is “almost fading away.”
It tracks. In a sport where perception can shape politics — and, by extension, the final cut of the regulations — talking down the future car is as old as ground effect. If a team suspects the draft plays against its strengths, it will say so loudly. If it doesn’t want rivals reading too much into its prep, it’ll undersell its simulations. The moaning is part smoke screen, part leverage.
There’s also the simple truth that sims don’t race. Until a 2026 car hits asphalt, the verdict’s provisional. The real development sprint starts when teams bolt parts together and correlation battles begin. Expect ideas to move quickly once hardware meets track temperature.
For now, it’s posture and positioning while the 2025 campaign runs its course and factories grind through millions of CPU hours. Drivers are right to flag what they feel, Domenicali’s right that the landscape is shifting, and everyone else should expect the narrative to keep twisting. That’s Formula 1 in a regulation year: noise now, lap time later.
