Isack Hadjar says that F1 cars don't need to be faster to pass

Isack Hadjar a driver for Red Bull says that overtaking in Formula 1 is now possible at the same speed whereas before it required the attacking car to be much faster.

The new power unit era in F1 has more electrical power which means that managing energy is even more important.

Drivers can pass each other much more easily because they slow down earlier before corners. This has been clear in the first races of the 2026 season.

There have been at least 149 overtaking moves in the first three grands prix of the season. This is a conservative number because it only counts position changes at the finish line that were caused by overtaking and lap one is not included. This is a lot more than the 63 passes that happened in the Melbourne, Shanghai and Suzuka races last year.

"I think this is the only time in a while that two cars going the same speed can pass each other back and forth," Hadjar said on Thursday at the Japanese Grand Prix.

"Last year, on the other hand, you always needed six, seven, or eight tenths of an advantage to pass the car in front of you. Even more than that sometimes. And sometimes, when you finish the overtake, you know that the car behind you will never pass you again.

So if anything it's definitely making the racing better. But there are times when it seems a little fake. So we need to strike the right balance. But it's definitely better than it was before.

When asked if the situation would change as teams learned more about managing energy or if they needed to make specific changes Hadjar said "A bit of both." We need to change a few rules and the engineers need more time.

As for the rules that need to be changed Just more efficient batteries, that's it.

Today April 9 people involved in F1 are meeting to talk about possible changes to the rules. This is because people are unhappy with how drivers can push in qualifying and there are safety concerns after Oliver Bearman's big crash at Suzuka.