(Motorsport-Total.com) – “It’s a bit of a shame because some corners have lost a bit of their magic and aren’t as much fun as they used to be,” said Haas driver Oliver Bearman disappointedly on Friday. It was already clear beforehand that Spa would ruthlessly expose the fundamental problem of Formula 1 in 2026.
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But how slow the premier class has actually become is almost frightening. “Spa has completely changed,” summarizes Williams driver Alexander Albon after qualifying. “All tracks have changed, but I think this was the biggest change of the year in terms of how you perceive the speed of the cars.”
For comparison: When Kimi Antonelli secured pole position for the 2026 Belgian Grand Prix on Saturday with a lap time of 1:44.361 minutes, the Mercedes driver was a full 3.799 seconds slower than last year’s polesitter Lando Norris. The McLaren driver had only needed 1:40.562 minutes back then.
“There is a lack of electric power delivery everywhere,” says the current world champion and last year’s polesitter this season. “Honestly, we lack the necessary power on every single straight. It’s probably worst in Blanchimont: We drop from almost 320 km/h to 270 km/h because the battery is simply empty.”
Formula 1 up to 50 km/h slower than last year
“So we hit the power limit on every straight.” This effect is also evident when looking at the telemetry data from GPTempo: While Norris was still traveling at 312 km/h when braking for turn 12 after Pouhon last year, Antonelli’s top speed this season was only 270 km/h – a deficit of 42 km/h!
The problem: Due to the long Kemmel straight in the first sector and the extended Blanchimont section in the third sector, where most energy is used, there is hardly any power left from the MGU-K in the second sector. Without this support, the combustion engine alone delivers only about 540 hp.
“Spa is definitely a challenge,” says Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur. “It has always been a challenge, but due to the demands on energy management, it is even more so. We have seen that there are huge speed differences between cars from one straight to the next.”
“Before ‘Les Combes’ we were 20 km/h slower than some of our competitors, but on the last straight we were 20 km/h faster. It’s definitely a trade-off,” emphasizes Vasseur, that energy management becomes strategy. “You can’t just add 20 km/h everywhere.”
“The amount of energy used is the same, but race preparation can become a challenge because you have to think carefully about how to attack and how to defend.” In addition, teams forego downforce in the twisty middle sector to have less air resistance on the straights.
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“In many places now we only have the combustion engine giving us power,” names McLaren driver Oscar Piastri the main problem in Belgium. “So you come out of some corners with almost 1,000 hp, from others with 550, 600 or whatever.”
Max Verstappen even said after qualifying on Saturday that they are “driving a Formula 3 car with the downforce of a Formula 1 car.” “Getting used to that and processing it mentally is pretty difficult,” adds Piastri, who has lost his fun in many corners that were still challenging last year.
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“It’s just different,” says Albon. “We drive through the corners at full throttle, but they no longer pose a real challenge. In many ways, we don’t even brake in many corners anymore, but basically just roll in. That definitely takes some of the fascination away.”
Where Formula 1 has even become faster in 2026
Not everything has become slower due to the new Formula 1 regulations: Out of the so-called “La Source” and when accelerating out of Blanchimont, the cars are even significantly faster than last year thanks to the electric boost and active aerodynamics.
Photos: F1: Belgian Grand Prix (Spa) 2026
The comparison: Just before the legendary Eau Rouge, Antonelli was traveling at up to 330 km/h on his pole lap this year, while Norris reached a maximum of 316 km/h last year. A similar picture emerges before Blanchimont: There the Italian was traveling at 335 km/h, while the McLaren driver reached at most 318 km/h in 2025.
Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton is therefore still having fun this year. “Yes, it is still fantastic to drive,” says the Brit. “The corner sections and everything else are great; the problem is just the straights where the engine runs out of breath.”
“No one enjoys the qualifying lap as much as last year”
This becomes particularly noticeable, for example, at the end of the long Kemmel straight: Norris slammed the brakes there last year at a top speed of 338 km/h, while Antonelli’s Mercedes only reached 328 km/h on Saturday – but already shortly after Raidillon, before the battery was drained and power dropped significantly.
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Therefore, the speed of the Silver Arrow drops significantly below 300 km/h until braking for Les Combes. In the following middle sector, the drivers have to save a lot of energy, which is also reflected in the speeds.
Just before Bruxelles, the difference between 2025 and 2026 is about 50 km/h. “I think no one out there enjoys the qualifying lap as much as we did last year,” Williams driver Carlos Sainz finds clear words about the current situation.
“It’s clear that we have lost quite a bit with these cars in Spa. Still, I don’t want to belittle my own sport any further because that won’t help,” says the Spaniard. “We all know that this is not good enough. That has to change. It will change. It will evolve.”
Next year, the balance will shift again somewhat in favor of the combustion engine, before the ratio between combustion and electric drive will even be 60:40 in the 2028 season. Hopefully, such discussions and comparisons will be a thing of the past by then at the latest.
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