The FIA has tweaked the engine rules in a bid to re-establish qualifying as one of the highlights of the Suzuka weekend.

Though his cars have dominated the first two race weekends, and both he and his drivers have praised the 2026 rules overhaul, Toto Wolff has admitted that there is one area where the changes have compromised the sport's magic.

"Qualifying flat-out would be nice," he admitted in China, before adding: "But when you look at the fans and the excitement that is there, live, the cheering when there's overtakes, and also on social media, the younger fans, the vast majority, through all the demographics, like the sport at the moment."

As it is, qualifying is no longer the challenge that is used to be, those sixty-odd seconds that sorted the men from the boys, for the new regulations mean that, as is the case on race day, it isn't who is balls-out fastest that matters, but who does the best job in terms of energy management, be it clipping or lift-and-coast.

Over the years, while races had often become processional, fans could always rely on qualifying, especially the final phase, to produce the magic, when man and machine were pushed to the limit.

However, the new rules have compromised this, and as we headed into the Suzuka weekend, a track revered by fans and drivers alike, one of the great fears was that a corner like the infamous 130R would no longer present one of the sport's ultimate challenges, as drivers sought to take it flat-out, pedal to the metal, but would instead now see them slow in a bid to harvest energy.

Aware of this, and clearly having taken some of the ongoing criticism on board, the FIA issued a brief statement.

"Following discussions between the FIA, F1 teams and power unit manufacturers, a minor adjustment to the energy management parameters for qualifying at the Japanese GP has been agreed with the unanimous support of all power unit manufacturers.

"To ensure that the intended balance between energy deployment and driver performance is maintained, the maximum permitted energy recharge for qualifying this weekend has been reduced from 9.0 MJ to 8.0 MJ.

"This adjustment reflects feedback from drivers and teams, who have emphasised the importance of maintaining qualifying as a performance challenge.

"The FIA notes that the first events under the 2026 regulations have been operationally successful, and this targeted refinement is part of the normal process of optimisation as the new regulatory framework is further validated in real-world conditions.

"The FIA, together with F1 teams and power unit manufacturers, continues to embrace evolutions to energy management, with further discussions scheduled in the coming weeks."

It's a temporary measure, only affecting qualifying, and falls far, far short of addressing the many issues that have been raised thus far, but at least it shows that the FIA is aware that there is a problem and is seeking to address it.

That said, one of the first drivers to reat was Oliver Bearman, and he isn't impressed.

"It's just making us even slower," he said. "On one hand we don't have to do any lift-and-coasting anymore which is probably a bit better for us, but it just means we have to a lot of... we still have to recharge the energy and we spend a lot of time just with no energy because we're losing 1MJ compared to what we had on the sim prior to coming here.

"I think there's better ways of achieving the same thing," he added. "If we could harvest at negative 350 kilowatts while on full throttle, I think it would make everyone's lives a bit easier. But this is also a solution, I guess."

"It's different," said Lando Norris. "I need to go out and drive with it first. I think it will eliminate some things and it will shift around some other bits.

"I think the thing is you also have tracks where it will be better. Some tracks it will work and be a much better thing, some tracks it won't change too much. So, it should be a little bit better here. It's not like it's going to change the whole world. Honestly I need to go and drive on track first and understand it."

The tweak aside, asked if the 2026 rules will "ruin" qualifying at a circuit like Suzuka, the 2025 world champion said: "I don't think you can ever ruin this track. Will it be as spectacular? I don't think so. It will not be. But it's still an incredible track to drive.

"There'll certainly be some places where it just won't be as spectacular," he admitted. "You'll start clipping into Spoon. That's one of the quickest corners, where you turn in you are going incredibly quick. Like last year, I didn't even brake into Spoon entry.

"It feels incredible in qualifying when you're pushing it to the limit," he continued. "Like, Degner 1, not even a full lift, that kind of thing... We might just be flat through those corners now, because you are clipping. It's a different world. It will be better now, I think. You'll see some places not as spectacular as what it's been in the past. But I think it's still going to be cool to drive in qualifying."