{"id":341213,"date":"2025-08-13T13:11:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T13:11:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/341213\/"},"modified":"2025-08-13T13:11:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T13:11:12","slug":"williams-boss-warns-current-2026-f1-rules-will-give-drivers-very-difficult-workload","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/341213\/","title":{"rendered":"Williams boss warns current 2026 F1 rules will give drivers ‘very difficult’ workload"},"content":{"rendered":"

Williams<\/a> boss James Vowles has called for refinement on the forthcoming 2026 Formula 1<\/a> cars, stating drivers are currently experiencing a \u201cvery difficult\u201d workload.<\/p>\n

With 2026 fast approaching, teams have begun to increase their attention on perfecting their respective interpretations of the new regulations<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This is now dovetailed with drivers getting a first sampling of how the cars could feel via simulator runs, giving them an opportunity to give their take on it so far.<\/p>\n

A big change is the increased use of electricity, with the V6 hybrids altered to ensure a 50-50 divide between that and internal combustion.<\/p>\n

This has led to a range of views aired, the first and perhaps most notable coming from Charles Leclerc, who stated he was \u201cnot a fan\u201d.<\/p>\n

Williams driver Alex Albon gave his own take, saying there are ways that skilled drivers can \u201cabuse the system\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Vowles was on hand to deliver a typically measured response to this, saying that the early sim runs are an \u201cindication\u201d and promised Leclerc that \u201cit gets better\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Despite this, Vowles has acknowledged the difficulty faced by drivers, revealing the challenge Williams\u2019 simulator drivers had to tackle in the initial runs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first time any of our simulator drivers drove the 2026 regulations it was difficult, because it is a complete change on certain aspects of how you drive,\u201d he told media including Motorsport Week<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen the second time it became more normal \u2013 still complaints. And by the fourth time, there really wasn\u2019t much in terms of discussion over it. It just became the norm.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"WilliamsWilliams boss James Vowles has called for an easing of the workload on drivers<\/p>\n

Drivers are beginning to understand 2026 cars but still require a \u2018fix\u2019<\/p>\n

Vowles advised those talking to drivers to exercise caution when asking about the 2026 cars, as the likelihood is that they are yet to grasp the necessary skills to extract maximum performance fully.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, what I ask everyone to do is be careful,\u201d he continued. \u201cAsk the driver how many times they\u2019ve driven the simulator as you adjudicate their answer. I guarantee you it\u2019s once.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s probably the first initial response. And those that have driven it four or five are like: \u2018I understand it now.\u2019<\/p>\n

Despite this, Vowles believes the cars are asking a lot of the drivers, and urged for the remaining half a year before they are driven for real to be used to ease the burden.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs it refined enough?\u201d he asked. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a lot more work to do to refine it, and we\u2019ve got to make it easier on the driver, because I think the workload is actually very, very difficult for the driver at the moment. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut we have another six months to run before we\u2019re there, so I\u2019m confident we can fix that.\u201d<\/p>\n

One positive Vowles did vocalise was allaying any possible concerns about a possible lack of on-track action.<\/p>\n

\u2018Manual override mode\u2019 replaces DRS from next year, which requires a different level of ability from drivers when it comes to using it.<\/p>\n

But Vowles believes that it won\u2019t hamper drivers when it comes to attempting overtakes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think you\u2019re going to get much bigger differences in straight-line speed on certain straights because of how much you can play with the energy and various modes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd so, I think at some point the overtaking could actually be accentuated, not hindered as a result of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe racing concept actually means that if you have a faster car, I think there are more tools at your disposal as a driver to be able to use than this year, even including DRS in there.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE<\/strong> \u2013<\/strong> Lewis Hamilton delivers positive verdict on \u2018fascinating\u2019 2026 F1 regulation changes<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Williams boss James Vowles has called for refinement on the forthcoming 2026 Formula 1 cars, stating drivers are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":341214,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4103],"tags":[4199,707,4200,79,16,15,121511,4857],"class_list":{"0":"post-341213","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-f1","8":"tag-f1","9":"tag-formula-1","10":"tag-formula1","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-vowles","15":"tag-williams"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115021630004144316","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=341213"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341213\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/341214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=341213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=341213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=341213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}