Brundle: “Senna and Schumacher would have loved the 2026 cars”

The new F1 The 2026 season, as is now known, will open a new era in Formula 1 in the field of technical regulations, with lighter single-seaters than those of the last championship and equipped with new engines with a 50/50 split between internal combustion and electric. However, during the first tests, general concerns arose about the risk of losing the identity of the F1, thanks to the use of the new active aerodynamics and the energy consumption of the battery. The management of the Timori cars which, in a different way, had also been present in the past at the beginning of new chapters in F1, then disappeared thanks to the management of technical innovations. An issue addressed by a former driver like Martin Brundle, now a television commentator and commentator: “If you have to go at full throttle for a long time, you have to protect things – he explained – it’s always been like that, whether it was Stirling Moss and Juan Manuel Fangio, or Jackie Stewart or Graham Hill. At the time, it was gears, transmission shafts, gearboxes in general, engines and suspensions. We always protected something, even in the terrifying 80s, when we had 220 liters of fuel and had to do lifts and coast throughout the race, because it was the only way to get to the finish line with any performance or fuel remaining. I once ran out of gas at the finish line and lost third place in Adelaide because I wasn’t careful enough. So, you always have to protect something along the way; Brundle then made a connection between past and present, convinced that yesterday’s drivers would have found themselves at ease with today’s cars, explaining the reasons: “The best drivers like Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher would have loved these cars, because they were capable of using all the tools available and knowing how to use them to get the best out of the cars – he continued – what has changed, in my opinion, is that the protection of the universal joints, brakes and ball joints has moved to battery, because in many other respects the cars are practically indestructible. So I think the specific challenge has changed, but not the overall one. What makes me nervous is that four or five big overtakings in a race are beautiful to see. Personally, I don’t think we’ve lost the essence of Formula 1.”