Formula 1 drivers had mixed views on the 2026 regulations in the wake of the season opener in Australia, which saw a one-two finish for Mercedes.
While that was the expected result after qualifying, the start was enlivened by both Mercedes drivers getting away badly from the grid.
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Poleman George Russell spent the early laps trading the lead with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, as for the first time, we saw the consequences of drivers deploying energy differently, and also using the overtake button that gives them a boost when within a second of the car ahead.
A driver who made a pass was instantly vulnerable to being overtaken again straight away. It made for quite a spectacle in the initial lead battle, with similar action repeated down the field over the course of the race.
However, it prompted obvious questions about what kind of racing we were seeing, and how artificial it potentially was.
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“There’s definitely more opportunity, and you do have to be more strategic,” said race winner Russell. “Let’s say you’ve got 100% of battery, you’ve got to split that between four straights. No team is splitting that 25% per straight. Some teams are doing it more on one straight, some other teams are doing it more on the other, and if you use your overtake mode, your boost button, you will pass the driver in one straight and he will then pass back. It was dicey for the two of us, but I hope you enjoyed it.”
Russell suggested that things won’t be the same at every track, as how the action unfolds will depend on the layout.
“It’s different, it’s definitely different,” he said. “But I think the interesting thing with these regs is every track we go to, they’re not always going to be like this. We’re going to Shanghai next where you’ve got one big, long straight, so the majority of drivers will be using their energy on that one straight. You don’t need to divide it up between four like you do here in Melbourne.”
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While Leclerc enjoyed being part of the lead fight, he made it clear that it had some reservations about how it was dominated by battery usage.
“I just think that it will definitely change the way we go about racing and overtaking,” said the Ferrari driver. “Before, it was more about who is the bravest at braking the latest. Maybe now there’s a bit more of a strategic mind behind every move you make because every boost button activation, you know you’re going to pay the price big time after that, and so you always try and think multiple steps ahead to try and end up eventually first. But it’s a different way to go about racing, for sure.”
Surprisingly, perhaps the most positive reaction came from fourth-placed Lewis Hamilton, who had a grandstand seat to watch the early Leclerc/Russell battle. Hamilton had previously made it clear that he didn’t like the regulations.
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“I personally loved it,” he said. “I thought the race was really fun to drive. I thought the car was really fun to drive. I watched the cars ahead; there was some good battling back and forth. So far, so good.”
Asked about the views expressed by others, he said: “I don’t know, you’ll have to ask them. I thought it was awesome. But again, they’re all further down the line; with 20 cars ahead of you, it may seem different. From my position, I thought it was great.”
There was certainly a split post-race with those who had the strongest races expressing more support, but plenty of big names were not happy.
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There were two main strands to their view. They questioned the artificial nature of the race, and also had safety concerns for a variety of reasons, including the stability of the cars with their wings open in straight-line mode, and the prospect of cars slowing ahead while harvesting energy.
There was a close call at the start when Liam Lawson didn’t get away and was nearly hit by Franco Colapinto, while Oscar Piastri didn’t even make the grid after a burst of power caught him out and he crashed on a pre-race reconnaissance lap. The biggest critic has been Max Verstappen, and despite starting from the back after a qualifying crash and charging up to sixth, he was not impressed by the way the racing unfolded.
“I want it to be better than this,” Verstappen hopes for improvement under the new rules package. Anni Graf – Formula 1 – Getty Images
In Friday’s drivers’ briefing, the Dutchman used colourful language to express his thoughts to FIA officials, and the race didn’t change his mind.
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“Chaos,” he said. “Honestly, I don’t really find the right words for it, I think. For me, of course, I passed them regardless, because we were like two seconds a lap faster. But I don’t really know what word to use.”
Regarding possible changes, he said: “They ask questions, and I give my opinion of what I would like to see, and what I think is better for the sport, because I do careabout it. I do love racing, and I want it to be better than this, right? So let’s see whatwe can do. I hope that even during this year, maybe we can come up with some different solutions, so it becomes more enjoyable for everyone.”
Lando Norris echoed Verstappen’s initial description and also stressed safety concerns.
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“It’s chaos,” he said. “You’re going to have a big accident, which is a shame that you’re driving and we’re the ones just waiting for something to happen and something to go quite horribly wrong, and that’s not a nice position to be in.”
He doesn’t believe things can be improved: “There’s nothing we can really do about that now. It’s a shame. It’s very artificial, depending on just what the power unit decides to do and randomly does at times, just get overtaken by five cars, or you can just do nothing about it sometimes.”
Melbourne was a sample of one – we now need to see what happens in Shanghai next weekend to get a better handle on how things work.
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“Everyone’s very quick to criticise things,” said Russell. “You need to give it a shot. We’re 22 drivers. When we’ve had the best cars and the least tyre degradation and when we’ve been happiest, everyone moans the racing’s rubbish. Now, drivers aren’tperfectly happy, and everyone said it was an amazing race. So you can’t have it all, and I think we should just give it a chance and see after a few more races.”
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