We may be only a few rounds into 2024, but the 2026 season looms large on the horizon.
Already power unit manufacturers have been hard at work tuning up their 2026 powertrains, which are set to be simultaneously less complex but derive more power from the hybrid motor.
From 1 January next year every team will commence work on what could be their pivotal 2026 cars, with development banned from starting any sooner.
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With the starter’s pistol set to fire in less than a year, teams are already turning their minds to how best to build up to that moment.
Red Bull Racing, as the championship leader, is best placed to juggle its resources, and now team principal Christian Horner has warned that its engine program is similarly advanced after rumours of delays.
Off the track, and Formula 1 says its own long-term targets are progressing too, with its mission to become carbon neutral by 2030 receiving a big boost.
Elsewhere, Carlos Sainz is still no closer to securing his Formula 1 future despite his strong start to the season.
RED BULL POWER UNIT ON TARGET DESPITE RUMOURS
Red Bull Racing principal Christian Horner says his team’s 2026 power unit program is hitting its targets to be competitive on debut.
Red Bull took the plunge to become a works team with its own engine program following Honda’s 2020 decision to withdraw from the sport.
Though the Japanese manufacturer later changed its mind, by then Red Bull had already made significant investment into its own program and had lured Ford as a major sponsor and technical partner. Honda will instead join Aston Martin from 2026 as its de facto works team.
There have long been rumours that Red Bull’s powertrain program has been delivering underwhelming results, particularly on the electrical side, which will account for 50 per cent of the power output.
Horner has been on the front foot calling for the sport to consider tweaking the rules to reprioritise the internal combustion element of the motors.
Some have linked Verstappen’s suggestion he could quit the team in part to concerns about the power unit project.
But speaking to Autosport, Horner said the program was on track to be ready for 2026.
“With the engine, we’re on an aggressive curve, being a brand-new power unit manufacturer, but the team is really rising to that challenge,” he said.
“Our facilities are complete both from a test and development point of view, with dynos and rig rooms et cetera, and manufacturing capability.
“But two years in the engine world is a very small period of time. We’re on a steep learning curve, but we’re on that curve and where we would expect to be on that curve at this point in time.”
Horner admitted, however, that it was impossible to know whether the benchmarks the team has set for itself measure competitively with those set by other manufacturers.
“We are hitting the targets that we’re setting ourselves,” he said. “How those targets stack up to our competitors is always difficult to know.
“But the effort that’s going in behind the scenes is huge, because it is literally a race against the clock to the start of 2026.
“We know that it is a very big task — we don’t take that lightly — and of course with so many well-established engine manufacturers, we also don’t think it’s going to be easy to beat them.
“But we have a lot of good people working on the project and we’re very excited about it.”
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F1 ON TRACK TO REACH SUSTAINABILITY GOALS
Formula 1’s first report into its sustainability initiatives has declared the sport remains on track to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2030.
F1’s 2023 Impact Report has compared the sport’s total environmental impact through the 2022 season — the first not affected by pandemic restrictions — with the baseline 2018 season to show a 13 per cent reduction in the competition’s carbon footprint.
The initial gains have been found thanks to increased remote operations, which have reduced emissions from travel and logistics, as well as the transition to sustainable energy sources.
F1’s total environmental impact encompasses emissions generated by F1 management, the teams, the race promoters and the running of the grands prix, including fans who attend in person.
The report highlighted the Austrian Grand Prix as reducing emissions by more than 90 per cent and both the Bahrain and British grands prix as having been entirely powered by renewable or green energy alternatives.
This year’s Australian Grand Prix — not captured by this report — was supplied by 100 per cent green energy from the grid, while a combination of hydrogen and biofuel generators were added to the mix around Albert Park.
The sport set its carbon neutrality target in 2019. It intends to cut carbon emissions by at least 50 per cent based on 2018 levels by 2030, with the remainder — which the sport says would be largely beyond its control — to be neutralised by offsets.
The sport’s next phase of carbon reduction involves further development on sustainable fuels in conjunction with major sponsor Aramco, the state-owned Saudi Arabian company widely regarded as world’s most prolific crude oil exporter.
Though sustainable fuel emits carbon, it is considered carbon neutral because the emissions generated through combustion are equal to those captured in the production of the fuel.
F1 power units will use 100 per cent sustainable fuel from 2026, but the sport hopes the fuel will also dramatically cut emissions from logistics, such as freight and transport, including air travel.
Airfreight is F1’s biggest single emissions source.
F1 says its progress has it on a trajectory to meet its neutrality targets by 2030.
Data from the 22-round 2023 season will be completed by December and feature in next year’s report.
The sport is embarking on a record 24-round campaign this year.
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SAINZ HAS ‘NO CLUE’ AS TO 2025 WHEREABOUTS
Carlos Sainz admits he has “no clue” where he’ll be racing in 2025 as his frontrunning options dry up.
Sainz has been arguably the most in-form driver of the season, being the only one to win a race other than Max Verstappen and finishing on the podium in every race he’s entered.
Were it not for his appendicitis diagnosis ruling him out of Saudi Arabia, he would likely have been second in the championship standings. He trails Sergio Pérez for the place by just nine points and teammate Charles Leclerc for third by only four points.
But the pre-season news that the Spaniard would be making way for Lewis Hamilton next year has left him without a 2025 drive and with precious few competitive options on the table.
Following Fernando Alonso’s re-signing at Aston Martin, only Mercedes and Red Bull Racing have seats available among the top five teams.
Mercedes is heavily tipped to promote Andrea Kimi Antonelli from Formula 2 directly into the team, while Red Bull Racing would have little reason to replace Pérez if the Mexican keeps performing at the high level at which he’s started the year.
Speaking the Sky Sports UK in Japan before Alonso’s announcement — though Sainz’s camp would likely have been aware Aston Martin was no longer an option by then — the Spaniard said his best option was unclear.
“Honestly, unfortunately I have no clue where I’m going to be next year,” he said.
“It’s true that we’re talking to many teams. I just need to keep focused on what I’m doing, just prove to myself, prove to everyone that when I’m given a fast car I’m maximising what I’m given and I deliver.
“I think it also depends on other people, on other teams, what they choose to go for. They know I’m available, so let’s see what happens.”
Sainz has been heavily linked to Sauber if he can’t secure a frontrunning drive, where Audi is preparing to take full control of the team for the 2026 regulation changes.
Such a move, however, would likely condemn the race winner to several years toiling near the back of the field just as he’s coming into his prime.