Martin Brundle defends new F1 regulations with 'melting turbos' claim

F1 broadcasting legend Martin Brundle has defended the new regulations that have swept into the sport in 2026.

Brundle is once again set to be a part of Sky Sports F1's coverage as F1 enters its new era, with wholesale regulation changes both on the chassis side of things, and when it comes to the power units.

The 2026 power units will remain a 1.6-litre V6 turbo hybrid, but they have had their electrical energy tripled, meaning there is now an almost 50-50 split between electrical power, and power from the internal combustion engine.

Some fans have been concerned about these new regulations, with much more responsibility being placed on drivers to manage their battery, even within a qualifying lap, rather than just going flat out for the duration of the lap.

However, Brundle - who previously raced in F1 between 1984-1996 - has said that the management of certain aspects from inside the cockpit has always been a part of F1, suggesting that 'lifting and coasting' had to be utilised even in the 80s.

Brundle had initially said in a post on X replying to a fan who had called 2026 an 'F1 destroying era': "Dean I appreciate your passion but we lifted and coasted back in the fearsome 80s turbo days. And pretty much constantly in Sportscar racing at Le Mans and suchlike.

"Sometimes regulations determine total fuel use, but in any case you never want to carry excess fuel through a race, it’s guaranteed to slow you down. Through the eras the great champions had to manage and protect engines, tyres, brakes, clutch, gearbox, suspension, driveshafts, fuel load, and now battery charge. It’s all part of the challenge, the best simply have a greater capacity to manage those challenges whilst carrying winning speed."

During Bahrain pre-season testing, one fan then replied to this post asking whether Brundle and his colleagues had to lift and coast during qualifying, to which he then said in a fresh post: "We didn’t LiCo (lift and coast) into and through a qualifying lap back then. But as the intercoolers, turbos, and motors melted with 1300 bhp at the start of the lap, we probably had 400bhp less by the end of that one lap, and the quali tyres were good for about half of that.

"And Senna managed this massive variability better than anybody else in a car that inherently wanted to crash, and would hurt you badly if it did. He was my kind of champion."

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What is 'lift and coast' in F1?

When a driver is 'lifting and coasting' they ease off the accelerator earlier than usual to allow the car to naturally slow down.

The 'lift' element of the name refers to when the driver lifts off the accelerator pedal, whilst 'coast' describes the motion of the car rolling without fully accelerating or braking.

F1 drivers 'lift and coast' for a variety of reasons including: battery management, fuel saving, tyre management and brake preservation.

New F1 power unit rules explained

The new 2026 power units have had their electrical energy tripled compared to the 2025 units, and can now generate a staggering 350kW.

And the internal combustion engine (ICE) element will see a slight decrease in power output, from 550-560kW to 400kW.

The sport has also waved goodbye to the MGU-H, while the energy recovery system (ERS) can generate twice as much recharge to the battery per lap compared to 2025, generating a massive 8.5MJ (megajoules) per lap.

On top of this, the new power units will provide drivers with a new way of being able to overtake the car in front.

'Overtake' mode will be used by different drivers in different ways. Drivers will be handed an extra surge of electrical energy if they are within one second of the car ahead at a particular detection point, which will usually be at the final corner of a lap.

Drivers can then choose whether they want to use this all in one go down the home straight, or spread it out across the course of the lap, helping with both overtaking and then defending that position, or going after another car further up the road, but it can only be used on that following lap.

Overtake mode will give drivers an extra 0.5MJ (megajoules) of recharge, making battery management a crucial responsibility for F1 drivers in 2026.

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