Kimi Antonelli flags key challenge in F1 2026 rules

Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli has predicted ‘the biggest element’ of the new regulations will be how teams deploy electrical power with an increased reliance on the battery.

For the first time in F1 history, powering the car will be a 50-50 split between the ICE and the battery. That change has resulted in new problems for teams to solve.

Kimi Antonelli states battery power biggest change in 2026

The 2026 F1 car will come reequipped with a 1.6-litre V6 turbo hybrid and a 350 kW battery, three times the electrical power of its predecessor.

For that reason, how teams manage the battery in particular during a race will be a key factor of the upcoming season. Mercedes driver Antonelli believes it will be the “biggest element” of the regulation changes.

“I think the biggest element will be on the power unit side and obviously with the battery,” he said. “I think that’s why, with the team, it’s going to be, especially with HPP [Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains], it’s going to be very important to really maximise the software, the deployment for each track, because that can really make a difference.

“When I talk about deployment, I mean race and qualifying as well. So being able to have the right deployment and a consistent deployment every lap and every run you make can really make the difference.

“Because with this new regulation, there is such a big change that it’s even on the software side, it’s going to be a whole different thing.

“So it’s going to be really important, as I said before, with the team, trying to work out what’s the best deployment. Even having different deployments, that gives you a bit of room during the race if you want to try something different.”

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Deployment of the battery looks to be one of the biggest changes in F1 history and Haas boss Ayao Komatsu went into detail on just how much it could change the nature of a Formula 1 race.

“If it were only a tenth, I’d be happy,” he smiled when asked about the potential time loss of mismanaging deployment.

“Honestly, I don’t think you can separate drivers and engineers in this instance. But this is both the good and bad of the challenges of this new regulation; the drivers and engineers really need to work together in a much more integrated way than before in order to develop the car.

“In terms of visibility for the fans, I think fans will see straight away that if somebody is not deploying correctly, let’s say opening their qualifying lap down the pit straight into Turn 1, you will realise straight away they didn’t do it correctly.

“So I think it will be very visible, especially earlier on. I’m sure you’ll see in Bahrain, when you see people doing quali simulation, how consistently everyone’s doing it.”

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