Formula One’s Green Engines Turn Race Day Into A Snoozefest

Mere months after a three-way championship fight went down to the last race of the season, Formula One ended up criticized by drivers and fans following the first race of the 2026 campaign. And it didn’t take much effort to figure out why.

A new energy-efficient engine package, designed with a 50-50 balance between combustion power and electrical energy, turned much of the Australian Grand Prix into a game of “leapfrog” among cars, with competitors passing each other based solely on their electrical energy levels rather than any mechanical advantage or even driver skill. The spectacle brought to mind the old John Wooden quote, “Never mistake activity for achievement.” In Formula One’s case, the “race” provided much of the former but less of the latter.

‘Mario Kart’ Racing

Before continuing, a disclosure: This racing observer did not watch the grand prix in question. Because Apple TV won the rights to broadcast Formula One beginning this season, I decided not to play the game sports leagues want fans to play and rush to buy a(nother) streaming service when the league sells its rights to a new one. That said, most reports coming from Albert Park suggest those who did sign up for Apple TV to access Formula One coverage saw their money less-than-well spent.

The weekend saw many bizarre developments, from the Aston Martin team disclosing that their car vibrates so much that their drivers, in the words of ESPN, “risked permanent nerve damage if they drove too long,” to wing mirrors falling off cars from the new Cadillac team mid-race. But by far the weekend’s biggest topic came due to the change in the engine regulations.

As this video from a simulated qualifying run illustrates, the new hybrid engine package means that when the engine loses battery power, it will automatically slow — even while the driver keeps his foot at “full throttle” — so the battery can recharge. The result: cars slowing dramatically, even on the straightaways.

By contrast, when drivers deployed that additional energy via overtake and boost mode buttons, they said it was “like the mushroom in Mario Kart.” The result was contrived “racing,” whereby a driver would deploy energy, pass another car, lose energy, and get passed back. A lot of activity — very little of it controlled by the driver — with not much achievement.

Frustrated Drivers 

One reporter opined that Saturday’s qualifying session “fell flatter than even the most pessimistic critics had feared.” Mercedes took both spots on the front row, with polesitter George Russell almost one second faster than the third-place car — a margin nearly unheard of for Formula One. Russell won the race going away, as teams in the paddock question whether his Mercedes team has a distinct engine-related advantage.

While Formula One’s CEO had asked drivers not to criticize the new cars, the weekend in Australia threw that thought out the window. Four-time world champion Max Verstappen was asked if he would retire from Formula One, and he did not explicitly deny what would be a hammer blow to the sport. Driver Carlos Sainz said, “[N]o one is happy,” and that “this 50-50 hybrid [engine] system is giving us a lot of headaches.”

Lando Norris, who beat Verstappen in December to capture last season’s crown, made another relevant and scary point. With differences in energy status (e.g., harvesting versus deployment) resulting in major speed differentials:

[W]e are going to have a big accident. … Depending on what drivers do, you can have closing speeds of [over 30 miles per hour] … and when someone hits another driver at that speed, you are going to fly and go over the [catch] fence and do a lot of damage to yourself and maybe to others [i.e., fans] and that is a pretty horrible thing to think about.

Unnecessary Mistake

In addition to lamenting the general poor quality of the racing, some observers on Twitter made the point that Formula One could yet have achieved some of the energy-efficiency goals it sought by changing cars’ fuel rather than their engines. Say what you will about ethanol, but at least it doesn’t result in cars suddenly slowing on a race course straightaway.

Whether due to manufacturers’ stubbornness — the hybrid elements apparently helped convinced Audi to join Formula One for the first time — a desire to appease the climate lobby, or a combination of the two, the series stuck with its hybrid engine plans and now has a royal mess on its hands. After finally breaking through in the American market over the past several years, how the series responds to this “hybrid crisis” could determine whether Formula One accelerates, gets stuck in neutral, or heads into reverse.