🏎️ F1 - Something Changed at Spa

One of the biggest surprises from Spa wasn't the winner. It was how closely the cars were able to follow each other.

On the opening lap, Kimi Antonelli stayed glued to Max Verstappen through Eau Rouge, while Charles Leclerc kept his Ferrari just centimetres behind George Russell's Mercedes before using the slipstream to overtake both Russell and Verstappen on the Kemmel Straight. It was an early sign that following another car is becoming significantly easier under the 2026 regulations.

Race winner Kimi Antonelli confirmed what many had already noticed.

That's one of the clearest signs yet that Formula 1's 2026 regulations are beginning to achieve one of their main objectives. Reduced aerodynamic turbulence allows drivers to stay within striking distance for longer instead of overheating their tyres while chasing another car.

Spa is only one circuit, but if the same pattern continues over the coming races, we may be witnessing the biggest improvement in close racing since Formula 1 introduced ground-effect cars in 2022.

At first, George Russell's lack of straight-line speed at Spa looked like a driver issue. It now appears to have been something much bigger.

After the race, Toto Wolff admitted Russell's deficit was "not his fault" and revealed that all Mercedes-powered cars experienced an energy deployment issue at the start of the race.

That immediately shifted the focus from one driver to the entire Mercedes power unit. More importantly, Russell wasn't complaining about horsepower.

He was complaining about electrical deployment.

After Turn 1, he had far less battery energy available than expected, leaving him "totally swamped" on the Kemmel Straight. The combustion engine appeared to be performing normally, suggesting the issue lay in how electrical energy was harvested, stored or deployed.

Spa is one of the toughest circuits to hide this kind of weakness. Long full-throttle sections are separated by relatively few heavy braking zones, giving the battery fewer opportunities to recover energy before the next deployment phase.

Perhaps the most revealing clue came from Wolff himself. Mercedes believes the issue may have been triggered by a combination of power unit settings and driver inputs, creating a behaviour the team had never encountered before. That points towards software and energy management rather than a hardware failure.

The biggest unanswered question is why Antonelli still won comfortably if all Mercedes-powered cars were affected. Different software calibrations, setup choices or simply the way Antonelli managed the hybrid system could all have played a role, but Mercedes has offered no explanation.

One thing is becoming clear. Under the 2026 regulations, manufacturers are no longer fighting only for more horsepower. They're fighting to recover, preserve and deploy electrical energy more efficiently than anyone else. Spa may have given us the first glimpse of what could become the biggest technical battle of Formula 1's new hybrid era.

During the Belgian Grand Prix, we asked FIA Technical Delegate Jo Bauer a simple question:

"Where can fans find more technical information about the batteries used in Formula 1?"

His answer was immediate.

That secrecy isn't surprising. Under the 2026 regulations, electrical power contributes almost as much performance as the combustion engine, making the Energy Store one of the most valuable components on the car.

What is publicly known is surprisingly limited. Every manufacturer develops its own:

🔋 Energy Store (battery)

🔋 Battery Management System (BMS)

🔋 Cooling system

🔋 Packaging

🔋 Control electronics

What remains unknown is who actually manufactures the battery cells. Unlike engines or turbochargers, the suppliers have never been publicly confirmed. Samsung, LG, Panasonic, CATL and Saft have all been linked to Formula 1 at various times, but no manufacturer has revealed its cell partner.

For a sport built on engineering, it's remarkable that one of its most important components remains almost completely hidden from public view.

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