Alexander Albon remains unconvinced that the new 2026 cars will be an improvement over the current models. The FIA unveiled the first images of the new chassis and its associated developments on Thursday. Albon fears that the cars in 2026 will have to sacrifice a significant amount of speed – the Williams driver refers to them as ‘extremely slow’ machines.
The FIA unveiled the new, ‘more agile’ car for 2026 on Thursday – with a smaller and lighter design, racing is expected to become much more exciting. However, the drivers were anything but enthusiastic. Lewis Hamilton already expressed that the cars are still ‘too heavy’ for a good fight. Alexander Albon has now also chimed in – the British-Thai driver fears that Formula 1 will have to give up a lot of speed.
‘Extremely Slow’
“It seems to be getting very slow, extremely slow,” Albon said in the run-up to the Canadian GP. “I’m sure everything will be done to maintain speed, but I think there’s still a lot of work to be done.” Albon fears that the 2026 engine rules have created unnecessary problems.
“Everything has become extra complicated [due to the engine regulations],” he continued. Formula 1 is introducing a hybrid powertrain in 2026 that evenly distributes power between a large battery and an internal combustion engine. An attractive challenge for new engine suppliers like Ford and Audi, but according to the drivers, it’s not beneficial for the sport. “I would have preferred a simpler engine, so we can go back to a basic regulation,” Albon concluded.
