{"id":460402,"date":"2026-02-05T16:30:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T16:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/460402\/"},"modified":"2026-02-05T16:30:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T16:30:10","slug":"lando-norris-says-2026-f1-cars-feel-like-f2-in-some-ways","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/460402\/","title":{"rendered":"Lando Norris says 2026 F1 cars \u2018feel like F2 in some ways\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Reigning Formula 1 world champion Lando Norris admits the 2026 machines \u201cfeel like an F2 car in some ways\u201d, which \u201cI don\u2019t know if I like that or not\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The 2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crash.net\/f1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">F1<\/a> season marks the first of its radical new car regulations, with the ground effect machinery replaced by smaller and lighter ones.<\/p>\n<p>The new cars also feature active aero and a greater emphasis on battery power, with the split now 50\/50 between electrical and combustion in the new engines.<\/p>\n<p>All but Williams have put their 2026 cars on track at the recent Barcelona shakedown, which offered the first real-world trial of the new regulations.<\/p>\n<p>So far, the response has been mixed, with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crash.net\/f1\/racer\/912058\/lando-norris\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Lando Norris<\/a> noting in a recent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crash.net\/f1\/teams\/mclaren\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">McLaren<\/a> press conference that, in some aspects, they feel like Formula 2 cars.<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt certainly feels like an F2 car in some ways with how you have to drive it,\u201d he said, talking about the challenges facing the teams and drivers coming into 2026.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know if I like that or not for the time being.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut I think we understood quite a few things already from Barcelona on how you had to drive the car, but Barcelona, you\u2019re talking about fourth-gear corners, third-gear corners, quite open, quite wide.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd when you get to a street track or bumpier tracks, slower tracks, that\u2019s a question we\u2019re yet to answer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd Bahrain will answer some of those questions. It will be a learning curve.<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut I have strong confidence in myself and strong confidence in my team. But it will be a learning curve for both of us as it will for everyone on the grid.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/mclaren1.png\"   type=\"image\/png\" alt=\"McLaren's MCL40 has finally hit the track\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.78\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>McLaren&#8217;s MCL40 has finally hit the track<\/p>\n<p>  Identity crisis fears not founded, claims Oscar Piastri<\/p>\n<p>As more information has emerged from drivers about how the new cars behave, there have been some fears that F1 may be losing its identity with this radical regulation set.<\/p>\n<p>One area in particular that has caused concern is talk of drivers needing to lift and coast during qualifying to manage the engine\u2019s electrical power better.<\/p>\n<p>However, Norris\u2019 McLaren team-mate <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crash.net\/f1\/racer\/1014409\/oscar-piastri\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Oscar Piastri<\/a> believes a lot of fears drivers had have been quashed following the first test and doesn\u2019t think F1 has lost its identity.<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s lost its identity at all,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think there\u2019s going to be some things to get used to.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut, I think in terms of some of the fears that maybe we had before we got on track, I think a significant majority of those have been alleviated now.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s not to say that there aren\u2019t things that could be improved still. But, in terms of lift and coast, and stuff like that, we were all doing it before anyway, just for different reasons most likely.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMaybe not necessarily in qualifying. That\u2019s maybe going to look the most different, if I was to guess right now.<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know exactly what that\u2019s going to look like, and it\u2019s probably going to change from circuit to circuit as we get used to how these engines work.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut they\u2019re still going to be incredibly quick machines.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSitting in the grandstands, watching live at the track, they\u2019re going to be just as impressive. There will be some differences, but I think fundamentally, they are still the fastest cars in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Subscribe to our F1 Newsletter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Reigning Formula 1 world champion Lando Norris admits the 2026 machines \u201cfeel like an F2 car in some&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":460403,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,813,816,1737,913,2333,85],"class_list":["post-460402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-lando-norris","tag-mclaren","tag-oscar-piastri","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=460402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460402\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/460403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=460402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=460402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=460402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}