F1's former technical boss, Pat Symonds has hit out at the new engine formula, describing the new unit as a "camel".

Beginning his F1 career with Toleman in 1981, where he was subsequently engineer to a rookie Ayrton Senna, Symonds remained at Enstone when Benetton bought the British team and during its numerous, subsequent incarnations.

Banned from the sport for his role in 'Crashgate', when the ban was subsequently overturned he returned as an advisor to Virgin before replacing Mike Coughlan as chief technical officer at Williams, parting company with the Grove outfit when his contract ended in 2016.

In 2017, he was appointed Formula One's Chief Technical Officer, just months after Liberty Media had acquired the sport, playing a key role in the 2022 regulations and also that of the 2026 overhaul.

In early 2024 the Briton was announced as executive engineering consultant to the Andretti Global bid to enter F1, which subsequently became the Cadillac F1 team.

Speaking to Autocar, Symonds reveals that his decision to quit his role with F1 was down to the FIA's increasing influence, which he believes compromised the purity of the new generation of engines.

"When we did the 2022 car we listened to what the teams were saying, but we ruled them with a firm hand," he says. "We said, 'okay, we're listening to you, but we're actually going to do this'.

"So, we took some of their input," he continues. "We knew that of them had an agenda... this is the advantage of me spending so many years as a competitor. So, we were quite rigid in what we wanted.

"With the '26 power unit, the FIA said it wanted to involve the manufacturers more," he continues. "Unfortunately, I think it's like when you get a committee to design a racehorse, you end up with a camel."

Symonds is particularly miffed that the FIA ruled out his suggestion that to make up for the loss of the MGU-H power could be generated from the front axle. This, he claims, was down to the failure to understand the technology and the outright rejection by one particular team.

"I think that's happened a little bit, because one of the briefs for the '26 engine was to remove the MGU-H, because that was something that certainly improved the efficiency of the engines massively, but it was quite complex," he admits.

"It was decided to remove that really to try and encourage new manufacturers into the sport, which in some way was successful. Ford came in, Audi came in we've got Cadillac come in. Porsche almost came in, they sort of faltered at the last minute.

"But once you remove that energy source, if you keep everything else similar - we've increased the power of the motors and things - the idea was to replace it with recovering energy from the front axle. If you did that, everything balanced out quite nicely, you weren't short of energy, you could have a lot more electrification on the car. But unfortunately, because of this committee approach to things, one team was very much against front axle recovery.

"I think the president of the FIA at the time, Jean Todt, thought we were talking about four-wheel-drive, which we weren't, we were talking about energy recovery. Maybe drive once you're on the straight but certainly not in the corners, so not a four-wheel-drive, classic, car.

"So, because of this sort of very democratic approach, one of the times when democracy is not good, we ended up with this camel. We've ended up with a power unit that's sparse on energy.

"Okay, there are ways around it," he adds, "but they're not good ways around it.

"So, I wouldn't say that the '26 power units ended up the way I wanted," he concludes. "But the chassis, the aerodynamics, I think they're pretty good, the active aero is a good step forward, I think."

That last, little "I think" suggesting that, at heart, Symonds remains as sceptical as the rest of us.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by ffracer, 27 minutes ago

"Whether his angst is genuine or not, the timing of this damning admission seems a pathetic attempt to shame his former employer. Surprising that he chose to 'fess up' / torpedo the rules - hours before anxious teams reveal - when he was one of the people charged with writing the 2026 rules of the new accepted Formula One screams series sabotage, with his intimate knowledge and only made apparent when it's oo late to do anything about it. Sorry, it would have been more prudent to remain silent for a few more weeks and let the series struggle to deal with it ... than this blatant attempt to fatally stab the series beast before it leaves the gate. Sentiments are of an employer here so let me get this straight. He was banned for being involved in a heinous crime but he FIA not only lifted his ban but gave him a job where he was partly responsible for writing these 2026 rules and he goes off like this.... lost complete respect for him. Again. "

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2. Posted by BillH, 7 hours ago

"The easy thing to do, if the FIA wants to shove electric power down race fan’s throats, is to create a new Formula E that has the same or similar regulations to Formula 1 but with electric power units and energy recovery.
And have Formula One with ICE engines.
The two formula can race on the same weekends at circuit that have enough pit space to do that and then alternate weekends.
That way the greenies will be happy and the rest of us can enjoy motor racing as it should be. "

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3. Posted by Celtic Tiger, 17 hours ago

"Is this a preemptive distancing from any form of involvement in what seems to be, by all accounts of anyone with experience who has tried the simulators, a complete joyless failure of a regulation change?

Seems like the only people impressed with the '26 regs are the gaslighting clowns of Domenicali & Co. drunk on their own koolaid and padded pie charts."

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4. Posted by moomoo, 18 hours ago

"Pat you've had ,what....at least 4 years. Why now? Always amuses me - if you were any bl00dy good you'd still be designing cars instead of spruiking your tripe. Oh nearly forgot, CHEATER."

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5. Posted by Paulinho, 20 hours ago

"WoW interesting words - but who moved his stone ?"

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6. Posted by KKK, 22 hours ago

"My view, or wish, is that someone starts a new F1 because the way F1 is going now is just not right. "

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Symonds scathing of 2026 power unit

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