All the bunting was out, and backs were being slapped, after the FIA published the 2026 regulations on Thursday. Not without reason if the changes do what they say on the tin. Lighter, narrower, nimbler cars and closer racing – which scrooge wouldn’t welcome that?

Well, it has me quaking in apprehension given the history of Formula One, which tells us that a major rejig opens the possibility of one team hitting the technical sweet spot from the first turn of the wheel in pre-season testing, before hurtling into the distance.

Red Bull are the reigning case in point. They cracked how to channel the vortices under their car from the off in 2022. And put that kind of magic carpet under Max Verstappen, and you can forget it.

 

The previous regulation overhaul underlined the danger just as vividly. Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton were the blessed ones then. Time to go out and mow the lawn.

Yet history, again, indicates that the disparity narrows as other teams gradually rumble the requirements. It is beginning to happen now: three non-Red Bull winners from two teams in eight races so far. Let’s get not get too carried away but it’s not Herod against the Innocents, as it was last year. So, hope for 2025.

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The FIA published the regulations for the 2026 season on Thursday morning to minimal fanfare

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New specifications could potentially once again cause the kind of imbalance that saw Red Bull dominate in 2022

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Regulation tweaks provided similar benefits to Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes during their era