Alex Albon anticipating 'unnatural' F1 shift in 2026

Alex Albon is expecting the F1 cars to feel more “unnatural” for the drivers this year following a significant regulation overhaul.

The cars have gone through a dramatic change from last season with changes being made to both the aerodynamics and power unit.

The power unit will see a dramatic increase in the electrical output, which will match the combustion engine in a 50/50 split.

It means drivers will have increased focus on energy management and deployment, requiring strategic thinking of where to utilise it in wheel-to-wheel battles.

Albon has suggested it will be a major shift from what the drivers have been used to over the previous years.

“I’d say [2026] is going to be more unnatural,” Albon told media including RacingNews365. 

“In my head, it's not that bad.”

Albon has suggested he will miss the 2022-2025 generation of car, which caused headaches for several drivers and teams.

“I feel like the good things about these cars, we can still push it to 100%,” Albon said.

“Yes there are some elements where it's easier to overdrive these cars than the previous generation of cars.

“All in all, it's not been a bad regulation set. As the cars got better and better, the following and the overtaking got worse and worse, which is what the whole point of the regulation change was.

“Unfortunately, F1, technology and intuition beat some of the regulation ideas. I haven't minded it at all.

“Maybe I had a different approach becauseI saw it as an opportunity back into F1 in 2022, so I  just thought, ‘I'll drive what I can get’ at that time.”