Gary Anderson explains why 2026 Formula 1 "engine rules package never made sense" from the outset

Writing in his his column for The Race, Anderson argued the concept was flawed from the start because the same 350kW MGU K is being used for both energy deployment and regeneration: “I’m sorry to go over it all again but the question I would ask is when Formula 1’s 2026 regulations were put in place.

"How did anyone think that they could get anywhere near a 50/50 hybrid power split over a lap when using the same size input and output motor, the 350kW MGU K, to do both?

“We know that 50/50 was never really true, it was probably more like 370kW from the internal combustion engine and initially 350kW from the MGU K.

“So working on those figures, that means the MGU K could supply that level of power from a 4MJ battery pack for roughly 11.5 seconds before the torch went out, " added Anderson, who said the numbers become difficult to justify when applied to a theoretical 100 second lap.

On an average circuit, he estimated a driver wants full power for around 60% of the lap, while heavy braking accounts for around 15%. He allowed another 5% for possible regeneration during part throttle running.

That leaves roughly 20 seconds of meaningful harvesting opportunity against 60 seconds of full power demand. Anderson admitted: “Looking at the magic of how that was supposed to be possible is where I start scratching my head."

Anderson explained: "On a fairly average generic circuit the driver wants full power for around 60% of the lap and they are braking hard for roughly 15% of the lap.  Which leaves 25% in no man’s land.

"Yes, some regeneration might be possible during that period but in reality not much. For simplicity let’s use 5% of that 25%, so that brings us to potentially being able to harvest for 20% of the lap."

Anderson said that calculation exposes why lift and coast, energy clipping and what has been described as super clipping have become unavoidable parts of the 2026 package: “This is where it has never made sense to me.

"Over a lap you’re requesting full power for 60 seconds, braking for 20 seconds so in effect 33% of the lap is your maximum potential for harvesting, and that’s being generous. So then to fill in the gaps comes lift and coast, and the dreaded super clipping. We all know what we and the drivers think of that requirement.”

Anderson said the power drop can be understood in traditional terms as a fall from around 940bhp to 590bhp once hybrid deployment runs out.

He concluded that Formula 1 should have built the regulations around a proper theoretical circuit based on 2021 data, before the current high grip ground effect cars, to create a more realistic energy balance model.