Has Ferrari sold its soul? Analyzing the 2026 engine regulations, it is clear that the intention of Formula 1 is to focus much more on the show and the business than on technological research. This is a sign that the highest category of motorsports is not interested in being the pinnacle of research to transfer it to the mass product, but rather that there is a spasmodic search for the spectacle through the balance of performance and the introduction of standard parts that they should easily equate everyone.
The feeling is that F1 has bowed to the wishes of Porsche and Audi , who have dictated their conditions to enter the grand prix: the VW Group has brought its political weight to the negotiating table, unhinging a history of more than 70 years and Liberty Media doesn’t seem to mind moving the rules towards a very North American vision of racing that is very different from our European tradition: whoever has the best driver and builds the most competitive car wins.
Each one brings the ember to their sardine and rightly so, but it should be noted that with the excuse of cost savings, they are moving towards a “single” power unit, so there will no longer be differences between one unit and another.
Starting next year, the budget cap for engine makers, set at $95 million a year, will also come into effect: capping spending is fine, but not taking away the freedom to investigate. In the opinion of the writer of these lines, it is no coincidence that the date of August 16 was chosen for the meeting of the FIA World Council: the F1 revolution was announced in the middle of the summer holidays, with the hope of that went quite unnoticed.
And it is not surprising that the builders have remained silent, without commenting on the path that the Circus has decided to take, moving away from the correct path. It is true that F1 has closed its doors for the summer break, but this silence is deafening.
It is very good that Liberty Media, promoter of the championship, tries to develop an F1 that can be economically self-sufficient in which the logic of profit becomes the polar star, but that the FIA bends to the wishes of the North Americans and, above all, , that the great builders submit to those who manage the threads of the system is, to say the least, strange.
In 2026 we will have power units with internal combustion engines that will return to the solutions of some 20 years ago: between the architectural limits, the material prohibitions and the rejected solutions (movable intake ducts, instead of the precombustion chamber) and generalized standard elements, we will need to understand where we can look for performance.
Meanwhile, there will be a big jump back in the power of the internal combustion engine, compensated by the increase in the electrical part. About 150 horsepower will be lost, so it will be easier to put everyone on the same level, and very soon the 6-cylinder will become an element, like the gearbox is today, that will not affect performance.
In fact, research will be left for the development of synthetic fuels that will be the key to the rebirth of internal combustion engines: the mobility of the future will not be only electric, but will rest on a second leg, which is that of engines. non-polluting combustion.
Gasoline will be free and biofuel manufacturers will be able to use F1 to experiment with more efficient and less expensive solutions: the real field of research will be limited to this area. Will the big manufacturers be the ones in charge of experimenting with new fuels? Especially since it is not necessarily the oil companies that are driving the fossil-free synthetic gasoline revolution.
Without oil, why should Petronas, Shell and Exxon Mobil, instead of BP, stay in F1? The Circus has to be careful because it could lose the economic support of these brands just as it had to give up the tobacco companies.
In F1, there is no decision that does not have its own contraindications: the synthetic fuel route is sacrosanct and, in fact, it arrives later than other motorsports disciplines that will obtain the result before, but you have to ask yourself, at what price do you travel? a marked path?
The electrical part will increase its importance (it will be equal to 50% of the power), but if it is a question of having an equal MGU-K (even the turbo could become a series element in the internal combustion engine), the investigation will be limited only to batteries and electronic management.
And Formula E has already shown that it has served to block the development of all things electric, having prompted many manufacturers to believe in and invest in the championship. Now it is more of a brand marketing operation than a search for innovation. And F1 must be careful not to go in that direction, where looks count more than substance.
Ferrari has voted in favor of this revolution in the FIA World Council of which it is a member, a sign that John Elkann and Benedetto Vigna have aligned themselves and have subscribed to the vision of the FIA and Liberty Media. The Scuderia , if it had wanted to defend the DNA of F1, could have exercised its right of veto, which it did not, but Maranello does not seem to count for much in the control rooms anymore, even if the red car is the team around which the world of grand prizes rises.
Within the Gestione Sportiva there is despondency over what many saw as a betrayal of Enzo Ferrari’s wishes. And Mattia Binotto , director of the Cavallino team, seems to have been left isolated by the decisions that push the company’s leadership to run towards electrification. Regardless, Binotto already has enough problems to deal with as the 2022 season is not delivering the results Maranello deserves, given the quality of the F1-75 and its two drivers.
