Major start-line shunt inevitable unless engine rules changed, drivers say

It is harder to build up sufficient energy and turbo boost as the cars sit on the grid waiting for the lights to go out. Read more at straitstimes.com.

SHANGHAI – A massive start-line crash seems inevitable this season unless Formula One’s new engine regulations are tweaked, several drivers said ahead of this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix, with some teams’ power units now seeing cars pull away far faster than others.

Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson said he had braced for impact, after his car struggled off the line at last week’s Australian Grand Prix and he spotted Franco Colapinto’s Alpine rapidly closing in his rear-view mirror.

“If it keeps going on like this, then yep,” the New Zealander said, when asked if anything could be done to improve the consistency of the starts or whether it was only a matter of time until there was a big shunt.

“At the moment, it is quite dangerous,” he added, while praising Colapinto for his lightning-fast reflexes with a rapid change of direction preventing the Alpine car from going over the back of the struggling RB machine.

Under the new rules, about half of the car’s peak power comes from the battery. The turbo is no longer pre-spooled by an electric motor removed from 2026’s power units, making it harder to build up sufficient energy and turbo boost as the cars sit on the grid waiting for the lights to go out.

Due to the introduction of a 50-50 spilt between electric power and the combustion engine, the 2026 cars produce far more torque.