The Sports Guru
Silverstone has survived wars, weather and several generations of regulation, but this weekend it meets the 2026 power units. This covers the BBC's reporting from the British Grand Prix paddock: Lewis Hamilton's warning that the energy-starved new cars will make Silverstone "a completely different circuit", the physics of why the batteries give up in the middle of the fastest corners on the calendar, Ferrari's fear of a doubled deficit to Mercedes, the straight-line-mode vote that failed on Thursday morning, Fernando Alonso and George Russell taking opposite sides of the argument, and the small matter of a drivers' parade in Lego cars that Hamilton and Max Verstappen would rather sit out.
Nobody has won the British Grand Prix more often than Lewis Hamilton, which is what makes his verdict on this weekend's race worth sitting with. Silverstone, he says, will be "a completely different circuit" in the 2026 cars, and not in a way anyone in the cockpit is looking forward to. The new power units will be so starved of electrical energy around Silverstone's long, unbroken stretches of throttle that at key points of the lap the cars will be running on not much more than half their full power. The fastest corners in Britain are about to be taken by cars that arrive at them short of breath.
Half power through the best corners
The problem, as the BBC's Andrew Benson reports, is a matter of arithmetic rather than opinion. This year's engines split their output nearly 50-50 between internal combustion and electrical power: 350kW, around 470bhp, from electricity, and a little over 400kW from the engine itself. The electrical half has to be recovered somewhere, and recovery happens under braking. Silverstone, famously, barely has any. A lap built on sequences of high-speed corners gives the battery almost nowhere to refill, so it empties before the quick sections end, leaving the internal combustion engine to carry the load alone.
The consequence is that the cars will be harvesting energy through Copse and Becketts, the two corners that have made Silverstone's reputation. "The fact we have long straights, it's an unprecedented weekend in terms of the power deployment," Hamilton said. "All the drivers have been talking in the drivers' chat about how poor the power is going to be."
His description of what that feels like from the cockpit is worth quoting at length. "If you look at the speed traces, we start losing deployment going into Copse. Normally the engine is screaming going into there and you are holding on for dear life. This year most likely we will be downshifting from seventh to sixth to keep the revs higher. It will be a long straight from Nine (Copse) and (to) 10 (Maggotts) with no deployment. Maggotts and Becketts will not feel the same, because you have to lift and coast through there for a period of time. So it's a completely different track. Maybe we will still get to enjoy it where you're not power-limited, but the best parts of the track are Copse and Becketts and Stowe and in those parts the power is just dropping. Hopefully they can rectify it for next year."
A seven-time world champion downshifting into Copse to keep the revs up is not the sales pitch anyone at Formula 1 wrote for these regulations. The sport has already taken decisions that will change the ratio of combustion to electrical power over the next two seasons to ease exactly this problem. The 2026 British Grand Prix, in other words, falls in the awkward gap between a rule set being introduced and being repaired.
Ferrari braced for a bigger gap
For Hamilton there is a second, more local worry. The Ferrari engine has less power than the Mercedes and Red Bull units, which means it can recover less energy, which means a track that punishes recovery punishes Ferrari twice. Hamilton said the deficit to Mercedes could be "twice as big" as it was at the Austrian Grand Prix last weekend, a race George Russell won for Mercedes. As we covered when Hamilton found something like a sweet spot in Canada, Ferrari's good weekends this season have needed the track's cooperation, and Silverstone's layout threatens to withdraw it for reasons no set-up sheet can fix.
Sad for the drivers, or better for the racing?
Not every driver reads the situation the same way, and the disagreement is instructive. Fernando Alonso, a two-time world champion, called the situation "quite sad, for the drivers, but also for the spectators". "With no deployment at all," the Aston Martin driver said, "we cannot forget that this year we have significantly less power than last year and less power than F2. That is the case when you cut the deployment. So, yeah, (a) challenge."
Russell, fresh from that Austria win, offered the counter-argument. "We know we're going to have some tracks where the straight-line speeds are going to be far quicker than last year and some tracks are going to be more challenging," he said. "On the flip side, the racing could be quite interesting. And on those energy-starved tracks so far, Melbourne, especially with racing, was quite exciting. And unless you watch the onboard, I don't think you're going to really know. You've got 600,000 fans here. I'd probably say 95% of them wouldn't notice it. And even hardcore fans from the outside, I don't think you'd really notice it. It's just when you watch the onboard, you listen to it, it doesn't sound great."
Where Russell does have a complaint is procedural. The FIA declined, on safety grounds, to allow straight-line mode, in which the front and rear wings open to shed drag, on the run from Turn One to Turn Three and between Copse and Becketts. That decision could have been reversed at a meeting on Thursday morning, but the change needed unanimity and five of the 11 teams voted against. "There were five teams against, which I don't really know why," Russell said. "If anything, you'd say the Mercedes teams would be against because we should have the deployment advantage. But we were in favour because we just think it would be better. And I drove on the sim (simulator) with and without and it makes a huge difference." The BBC reports that some teams had safety concerns about specific parts of the track where the mode could have been reinstated. So the cars will be slower through Silverstone's showpiece sections partly by physics and partly by committee, which is about as 2026 as Formula 1 gets.
The Lego race Hamilton would rather watch
The weekend's other controversy weighs 28,000 bricks. Sunday's pre-race drivers' parade will be conducted with every driver in his own individual Lego car, limited to 25km/h, an expansion of a Miami promotion last year in which team-mates shared one. Hamilton's enthusiasm was measurable and low. Off-microphone in the official news conference, he told former team-mate Valtteri Bottas: "I'm not driving." Asked directly, he elaborated: "It's the most dangerous part of the weekend. I let Charles (Leclerc) drive last year and it was hilarious watching everyone crashing into each other. I don't know whether or not I'll be in the Lego car this year." Pressed again, he closed the topic like a man ending a meeting: "I'll take that offline."
A Ferrari spokesperson subsequently settled the matter over his head: "Lewis will be taking part in the Lego 'race'." Verstappen was blunter still. "I prefer to play with Lego at home with the kids. I prefer to stand on a truck with everyone together. That is more fun and it looks more professional," the Red Bull driver said. "We are F1 drivers. We should not look like kids and clowns trying to ram into each other. That's not what F1 needs."
There is something fitting about the weekend's two arguments sitting side by side. One is about cars with too little power, the other about cars with 28,000 bricks and a speed limiter, and the drivers are grumpier about the second. Silverstone will still be Silverstone on Sunday: 600,000 people, the fastest corners in the country, and a home crowd that has watched Hamilton win here more often than anyone else. Whether the 2026 cars can do those corners justice is the question the weekend now has to answer, and on the evidence of the drivers' chat, the men driving them already know.
Frequently Asked Questions
The 2026 engines split their output nearly 50-50 between internal combustion and electrical power, with 350kW (around 470bhp) coming from electricity. The battery recharges under braking, and Silverstone's long high-speed sections offer very few braking points, so the battery empties before the quick sections end. At key points of the lap the cars will run on little more than half their total power, with only the combustion engine working.
Hamilton said Silverstone will be "a completely different circuit", with cars losing electrical deployment going into Copse, drivers downshifting from seventh to sixth to keep the revs higher, and lift-and-coast required through Maggotts and Becketts. He called it "an unprecedented weekend in terms of the power deployment" and said he hopes the problem can be rectified for next year.
The Ferrari engine has less power than the Mercedes and Red Bull units, so it recovers less energy, and Silverstone's layout magnifies that weakness. Hamilton said Ferrari's deficit to Mercedes could be "twice as big" as it was at the Austrian Grand Prix last weekend, which George Russell won for Mercedes.
Straight-line mode opens the front and rear wings to reduce drag and downforce on straights. The FIA disallowed it on safety grounds on the run from Turn One to Turn Three and between Copse and Becketts. The decision could have been reversed at a meeting on Thursday morning, but reinstatement required all teams to agree and five of the 11 voted against, with some citing safety concerns at specific parts of the track.
Sunday's pre-race drivers' parade will feature each driver in an individual car made of 28,000 Lego bricks, limited to 25km/h, following a similar Miami promotion last year in which team-mates shared a car. Hamilton was reluctant, initially saying "I'm not driving" before a Ferrari spokesperson confirmed he will take part. Max Verstappen criticised the idea, saying drivers "should not look like kids and clowns".
Sources: All Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, George Russell and Max Verstappen quotes, the 2026 power-unit figures (350kW electrical, a little over 400kW combustion), the energy-recovery explanation, Ferrari's engine deficit and the "twice as big" Austria comparison, the FIA straight-line-mode restriction and the five-of-11-teams vote on Thursday, the planned two-season change to the power ratio, and the Lego drivers' parade details (28,000 bricks, 25km/h, the Ferrari spokesperson's confirmation), as reported by Andrew Benson for BBC Sport from the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
