Kulthard accused the FIA of a delayed reaction to the obvious.

      David Coulthard is surprised that despite the obvious problems with the 2026 technical regulations, the FIA waited for all these issues to manifest on the racetracks before taking emergency measures to rectify the situation.

      However, we cited the opinion of Nicolas Tombazis, the FIA's single-seater racing director, who effectively blamed the situation on the power unit manufacturers, who took a rather uncompromising stance and opposed timely amendments to the regulations. In the end, the engine manufacturers had to agree to this, but the first steps that allowed for some improvement were only taken by the fourth round of the season.

      "When the new regulations came into effect, drivers and engineers warned: 'Nothing good will come of this.' But the others kept quiet," reflected the Scottish Formula 1 veteran while participating in another episode of the Up To Speed podcast. "And when we got to Melbourne, it turned out, 'Oh, speeds drop when drivers go through certain corners.'

      Now, looking back at that initial disappointment, I am ready to admit that starting from Miami, things have been going quite well. In the last five Grands Prix, there have been five different winners, which indicates that the picture has changed throughout the season.

      But I feel that we anticipated those difficulties; however, no one listened to this, and it somewhat frustrates me that the FIA had to react to what was happening in reality, even though Formula 1 is excellent at modeling the future.

      And the federation is to blame for this. I know they will take this painfully and will say, 'We have few specialists, while there are hundreds in Formula 1 teams.' However, everything initially indicated that the power ratio, where 50% is generated by the internal combustion engine (ICE) and the remaining 50% by electric systems and batteries, would cause difficulties.

      And what are we doing to move forward? Next year we will make the ICE more powerful, and the year after that, we propose to further increase their power. We should have ensured the obvious things and only then reacted – that is what frustrates me."