Arvid Lindblad and Gabriel Bortoleto were not satisfied with one of the restrictions imposed on the cars during the 2026 Brazilian Grand Prix on Sunday (the 8th). The two drivers pointed to the power reduction on the straights, adopted by Formula 1 in wet conditions, as a problem in the attempts to overtake.
Under the 2026 regulations, electric power can reach up to 350 kW, about half of the cars’ total power. When the track is wet, however, the limit drops to 250 kW for safety reasons. In practice, the restriction makes overtaking harder, since drivers can hit the energy ceiling exactly when they are trying to pass an adversary.
Lindblad faced this situation in the fight for a top-ten spot. After reaching eighth place, the Briton lost ground following his second pit stop and found himself stuck behind Franco Colapinto. In the attempt to catch Nico Hülkenberg, who finished tenth even with a ten-second penalty, he felt the effects of the restriction.
“It was a tough fight, and I had an energy limiter,” Lindblad said. The driver also complained about the difficulty of using the overtaking feature, since Colapinto could gain speed down the straight: “So I used the boost, and then he becomes faster than me at the end of the straight, which is incredible, with the overtaking mode.”
“So I was stuck, and it was hard to overtake because we’re limited to 250 kW on the straights,” explained. “So it was hard to open a real gap, but once I had clean air, I was very quick, but that doesn’t matter in the end, because you’re starting from the back.”
“So we’re just saying what could have been, but wasn’t. The only thing I can do is learn from my mistake in qualifying and move on to the next race,” he concluded.
