F1 star admits major concerns about ‘difficult’ new car after Barcelona test

F1 star Esteban Ocon has given his first impressions on the brand new 2026 cars, with a word of warning for those watching.

A raft of regulation changes mean that the cars are expected to be slower, while DRS is out and has been replaced by an 'overtake mode' boost of electrical energy.

Front and rear wings have had to be redesigned too, now both 'opening' in high speed zones and snapping shut for extra downforce in the corners. However, the Haas driver has admitted that he's expecting it to be harder than ever to overtake.

His team-mate Ollie Bearman shared the same sentiment after last week's testing in Barcelona, admitting that although he didn't do much driving in close proximity to other cars, the shift from clean air to dirty air was more consequential than in the previous generation's cars.

This could, of course, simply be teething troubles (or a Haas-specific issue), but is in line with some conceptual fears about the 2026 car.

Ocon: It seems difficult to pass

Ocon said: “I've been following a few cars. You seem to lose quite a lot of front load, a bit more maybe than before, but we need to see. And the overtake [mode], yes, I played with it.

"I don't want to give too early conclusions on how it's going to be because obviously, you know, it needs to be adjusted, optimised, etc. for that to work in a perfect way. But so far, it looks to be difficult to pass. That's my first thought about it, but I hope it's going to get on the easier side."

What is Overtake Mode?

New for 2026, a driver within a second of the driver ahead can deploy extra electrical power to attempt to get past.

This effectively replaces DRS, but with the added bonus to the drivers that they can decide themselves where on the circuit to use their boost – rather than being limited the mandated DRS zones as in previous years.

Bearman: New car has new challenges

Meanwhile, Bearman admitted: "In terms of following and overtaking and everything, I didn't really get a massive feeling on that; of course, it's not a priority. I managed to do a few laps in and around other cars.

“I must say that it was a bit more challenging to follow, just given my relatively few laps I did. It picked up quite a big shift in balance compared to clean air, which seemed a bit more so than the previous generation of cars. But again, it's very early days.

“I didn’t really get to use the overtake mode, but I was still able to try it just in clean air. We need to obviously see the difference in cooling and all of those things. So I was able to try it, but I wasn't able to use it to overtake someone, if that makes sense."

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