Williams Racing Formula One driver Alex Albon has opened up about his experience with the 2026 F1 car on the simulator back at the team’s headquarters in Grove. Albon gave an honest assessment, revealing that the car of the new era is much different and more difficult to drive than the current car.
F1 will experience the onset of new regulations next year, where cars will be powered equally by electric power and an internal combustion engine. The 2026 car will also be lighter and slightly smaller, featuring active aerodynamics on the front and rear wings.
Albon addressed the media ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix, revealing his first impression of the 2026 car. He said:
“It’s difficult. It’s difficult to drive. Technologically, the load on the driver is immensely high as well.
“It’s quite important to know how to use the engine and the deployment, and you have to learn a different driving style. But it’s part of the regulations. It’s technology at the end of the day.
“So on our side, I wasn’t that shocked by the car — the performance of the car. It was more just getting my head around the PU and understanding how to make the most of that.”
When quizzed about his overall experience of the 2026 car, and if the Grands Prix next year would be different from what fans are used to watching, Albon said:
“I honestly can’t tell you. I don’t think… in the end, I just want good racing. I think we all just want good racing.
“I’m not sure the speeds of the cars or the way they’re driven is going to change too much. I don’t think it’s going to become kind of Formula E style, where you’re getting these massive lift-and-coast sessions and all those kinds of things.
“But I don’t think it’ll change too much.”
Albon added that drivers will have an additional role to play, apart from just going round the corners as fast as possible. He said:
“There is a lot that the driver has to do. I don’t think it will always purely come down to how good the driver is around the corner. A driver who’s quite smart and can understand the system — and even abuse the system, understand how it works, and become efficient with it — they’re going to find performance in that as well.”
Considering the other drivers haven’t had many positive things to say about the 2026 car, Albon added:
“I’m not moaning. I’m just saying it’s different — like, it’s really different to drive. I think the drivers that are really going to go well on this are the ones that can be really adaptable.
“I think you’re going to have to have a very open-minded approach to how to drive these cars. And I believe that the drivers who have the capacity to drive and understand how to drive them… you know, even these cars now, at the end of the day, you’re driving them flat out.
“There’s a bit of PU clipping and all these kinds of things, but for next year, it’s going to be a bit more of a complete package in terms of how you get that out of them.”
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