​Formula 1 teams are bracing for a headache at Spa-Francorchamps as Fernando Alonso warned that the new cars could run with little to no battery power for large portions of a lap, dropping to “less power than F2.” Spa, renowned for its combination of long straights and steep climbs—especially the first sector that carries drivers from La Source up Eau Rouge and Raidillon, along the Kemmel straight, and into Les Combes—will test the energy management of the latest machines. Like Silverstone, with its extended straight lines and comparatively few heavy braking zones, Spa presents a deployment challenge: there are only a handful of places where the battery pack can be recharged effectively over a single lap.
Alonso believes drivers will be able to exhaust the battery in the first sector after charging it at the Bus Stop chicane and La Source, only to find insufficient opportunities to recover energy for the high-speed second sector. “Silverstone and Spa, they are very thirsty on energy,” he said ahead of the British Grand Prix. “You cannot deploy in all the straights. Next week, it is going to be the same thing. If you deploy in Spa from Turn 1 [La Source] to 5 [Les Combes], it is finito for the rest of the lap.” He added that some energy needs to be conserved to enable deployment from Turn 14 [Stavelot] to the Bus Stop complex [Turns 18 and 19]. But deploying in those two straights—the optimal pattern—leaves sector two with almost no deployment at all. “And with no deployment at all, we cannot forget that this year we have significantly less power than last year and less power than F2. That is the case when you cut the deployment. So, yes, it is a challenge,” he explained.
F1’s V6 power units, when not aided by hybrid energy, can produce around 540 bhp, while F2’s Mecachrome engines sit around 610 bhp in official figures. However, when an F1 car deploys full power from both the internal combustion engine and the battery, total output can approach around 1000 bhp. It is important to note that cars with deployment activated will still be faster than F2 machines, even with limited battery usage. For instance, Kimi Antonelli’s pole time at Silverstone was 1m28.111s, whereas F2’s Rafael Câmara set a pole of 1m39.690s.
Alonso’s view is shared by several drivers on the grid, who identify Spa as among the most challenging venues for F1’s current power-unit rules, alongside Silverstone, Monza, and Suzuka. At the British GP, Alonso referred to the Maggotts-Becketts-Chapel sequence as a “charging station,” noting that the corners there effectively function as battery-management zones. The sentiment was echoed by Lance Bearman, who stepped in to reflect on Spa’s difficulty: “Let’s not speak too soon because we have Spa next week… maybe Silverstone will feel mega compared to that.” Bearman added, “I love Spa, but Spa is going to be another painful one, just because of the energy, for better SEO.”