Lando Norris was initially one of the biggest critics of Formula 1’s new power units, which began to be used in 2026, with an approximate 50/50 power split between the internal combustion engine and the batteries, a big difference from the approximately 80/20 ratio used until 2025.
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In 2026, tracks with long straights and high-speed corners, such as Albert Park, Silverstone, and Spa, for example, leave drivers more vulnerable to energy loss, as they offer few opportunities to recharge batteries in braking zones.
But at the Hungarian GP, this upcoming weekend, drivers are expected to be able to attack harder, due to the characteristics of the tight, winding track with no long straights, which means that the batteries do not completely deplete, preventing drivers from running low on available energy.
Norris commented on the situation to the press this Thursday in Hungary: “Certainly there are moments and things that are harder to understand, as sometimes there are still silly rules that simply don’t make sense. There are some rules that, to be honest, the FIA changed the rule, I think it was from Friday to Saturday last weekend, they determine that, above a certain speed (I think it was 210 km/h), if you lift off and accelerate again, it still limits the interaction between the combustion engine and the battery, and basically wastes battery charge,” he stated.
“There are still rules for overtaking, because if you go off-line and reach the limit of power delivery, and you need to lift off and accelerate again to avoid something, you start to use up all the battery for some reason, and it’s the same situation I experienced in Japan when trying an overtake, when I ended up wasting the battery,” he said.
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“So, there are still things that make you think: ‘Why does this exist?’. And we still face problems we had at Spa. Even if the programming is practically identical, certain things shouldn’t happen. The system still acts slightly differently, and when something changes a little on a seven-kilometer lap, the impact on the result can be huge. Some of these things, however, are minimal details that you can’t keep monitoring, otherwise it’s game over, so, as a driver, you just focus on driving,” the Briton continued.
“Nowadays, there are fewer meetings where I leave thinking: ‘Well, what do I do now?’. They still happen from time to time, but the issue is more about driving slower at certain times to recover energy. Sometimes you ask yourself: ‘Why did my battery run out here?’, and the answer is that you drove three meters further at some point or didn’t need to swerve to avoid another car there, and that caused your battery to be 20% lower,” he added.
“We’ve probably already faced the most difficult tracks, like Silverstone and Spa, so I think we’ve been through the worst. I hope that’s true. Here, for example, it should work well. I think the electric power delivery is practically full everywhere, although some points are still tricky, but there are bigger issues that are very, very simple to solve, and I hope they will be resolved over this season and the next. On the other hand, there are still things that would work better if we just abandoned the entire battery system altogether,” concluded the current Formula 1 champion, clearly demonstrating his concern about the functioning of the category’s current rules.
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