For decades, the most frustrating sight in Formula 1 has been the “DRS train”—a procession of cars locked in a stalemate, where the attacking driver possesses the speed to challenge but lacks the tactical window to actually execute a pass. It has been a game of margins so slim that a driver often needed a massive pace advantage just to make a move stick.
That dynamic is shifting. According to Red Bull driver Isack Hadjar, the 2026 season is ushering in a new reality where cars no longer need to be significantly faster than their opponents to complete an overtake. In the early stages of this new era, the sport is seeing a surge in on-track action that suggests the long-standing struggle for wheel-to-wheel combat may finally be easing.
The catalyst for this change is the radical overhaul of the FIA’s power unit regulations. The 2026 cars feature a significantly increased reliance on electrical power, shifting the focus of a Grand Prix from raw combustion speed to a sophisticated game of energy management. This technical pivot has fundamentally altered how drivers approach the braking zone and the exit of a corner.
Speaking on Thursday at the Japanese Grand Prix, Hadjar noted that the current technical landscape allows for a level of parity in battling that was previously unseen. “I reckon it’s the only time in a while where two cars with an identical pace can overtake each other back and forth,” Hadjar said.
The End of the ‘Overtaking Delta’
In previous seasons, the “delta”—the gap in lap time required to make a pass—was often prohibitively high. Hadjar suggests that in the prior era, a driver typically needed a lead of six, seven, or even eight tenths of a second to successfully dive past a competitor. When an overtake did occur under those conditions, it was often a one-way street. the car being passed simply didn’t have the pace to fight back.
The new power unit era has effectively shrunk that delta. Because the cars now rely more heavily on energy recovery and deployment, the rhythm of the race has changed. Drivers are frequently slowing down earlier before corners to manage their electrical reserves, creating larger gaps and more opportunistic windows for the car behind to strike.
The Data Behind the Action
The anecdotal evidence from the cockpit is backed by a stark increase in the numbers. In the first three Grands Prix of the 2026 season—Melbourne, Shanghai, and Suzuka—officials have recorded 149 overtaking moves. This figure is considered conservative, as it only counts position changes recorded at the finish line and excludes the chaotic shuffle of the first lap.
To place that in perspective, the same three races in the previous year saw only 63 passes. The more than twofold increase in F1 overtaking in the 2026 era highlights a fundamental shift in the sport’s competitive geometry.
| Season | Total Overtakes | Average per Race |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 63 | 21 |
| 2026 | 149 | 49.6 |
The Price of Progress: ‘Artificial’ Racing?
While the increase in passing is a win for the spectators, it has created a new dilemma for the drivers. The reliance on energy management means that some of these maneuvers experience less like a triumph of raw speed and more like a result of the car ahead simply running out of electrical “juice.”
“If anything, it’s making the racing better, that’s for sure,” Hadjar admitted. “But it’s, for sure, at times a bit artificial. So we need to find the right balance. But it’s definitely better than it was.”
When asked if the feeling of artificiality would fade as teams mastered the new systems, Hadjar suggested a combination of time and technical adjustment. He argued that while engineers need more time to optimize the energy curves, the rules themselves may need a tweak—specifically calling for more efficient battery technology to ensure the balance between power and management remains organic.
Safety Concerns and Rule Adjustments
The volatility of the new era isn’t without its risks. The surge in aggressive overtaking and the complexities of the new power units have coincided with safety concerns. On April 9, F1 stakeholders convened to discuss potential rule tweaks, driven in part by discontent over the drivers’ ability to push the cars to their limits during qualifying.
The meeting also addressed urgent safety concerns following a heavy crash involving Oliver Bearman at Suzuka. As the cars evolve and the nature of the battles changes, the governing body is under pressure to ensure that the quest for better racing doesn’t compromise the safety of the drivers.
The next phase of the season will likely see a tug-of-war between the teams, who are fighting to maximize their energy efficiency, and the regulators, who must ensure the sport remains a test of skill rather than a simulation of battery management. With stakeholder meetings ongoing, the focus now shifts to whether the FIA will implement technical changes to battery efficiency or qualifying protocols before the next round of the championship.
Do you think the increase in overtaking makes the sport more exciting, or does the “artificial” nature of energy management take away from the skill of the drivers? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
