When the FIA introduced new regulations back in 2014, Mercedes emerged as the biggest winners, completely dominating the turbo-hybrid era (2014-21) in a manner that was never seen before.
It was an especially fruitful time for Hamilton, who claimed six of his seven world championships as Mercedes itself collected eight constructors’ titles.
However, FIA was growing concerned to see the utter dominance displayed by one team and they looked to make more stringent plans to ensure such a situation never cropped up again, but inadvertently ended up playing into the hands of Red Bull and Max Verstappen.
According to FIA head of single-seater Nicholas Tombazis, F1’s governing body “are convinced that the rules are so well structured that such a large lead cannot occur”.
He reiterated that gaps would not be so big in the future.
“In our opinion, the gaps will not be that big,” Tombazis said.
“There are some safety nets built in so that if someone falls really far behind, they can do a little more work to catch up.
“But, we have learned how to prevent someone from really gaining a huge advantage.”
With FIA aiming to avoid a similar situation ahead of the 2026 season, they are hopeful that they will not face the same controversies as before.
The key for FIA is to avoid the controversies that have emerged in the sport so far and the 2026 season will see regulations change in a manner to incorporate six different engine suppliers.
With two new brands in Ford and Audi entering the fray to join the likes of Mercedes, Ferrari, Renault, and Honda, 2026 is set to start off as an even playing field.
Although this is the tone that FIA aims to achieve, it is still largely believed that Red Bull will still hold an advantage over its rivals.
Why is Horner unhappy with 2026 regulation changes?
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner is not entirely happy with how FIA has gone about its regulation changes.
One of the main impacts of the regulation changes will be the increased reliance on battery power, which is exactly what Horner didn’t want.
The change will see teams now being forced to run their engines on 50% battery power and 50% combustion engine.