Formula One’s much criticised new regulations could be “tweaked” after upcoming races in response to the backlash surrounding the new style of racing this year.
The Australian Grand Prix saw fans and drivers get a first full look at the new era of hybrid cars, which require the drivers to constantly manage the battery sourced power in the engines.
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It has led to a new phenomenon called “super-clipping” where drivers drop significant speeds without using a brake, harvesting electricity while at full throttle, typically at the end of straights or in high-speed corners, to recharge the battery.
It made for exciting racing at times — there were 45 overtakes at the 2025 Australian Grand Prix and 120 overtakes at this year’s race.
But Lando Norris and Max Verstappen heavily criticised the new regulations — Norris labelled the overtaking “artificial”.
“We’ve come from the best cars ever made in Formula One, and the nicest to drive, to probably the worst. It sucks,” Norris said after qualifying.
“Everyone knows what the issues are. It’s just the fact the engine is a 50-50 split and it just doesn’t work.”
F1 heads to the Chinese Grand Prix this weekend and officials are expected to review feedback from the teams about the new regulations, with the potential for some changes to be made after the race in Shanghai or Japan at the end of the month.
“It wouldn’t surprise me if tweaks were made,” Sky Sports commentator David Croft told the new MotorRacing 360 show, which you can watch on Kayo Sports on Wednesdays.
“I don’t think there’ll be a knee-jerk reaction, we’ve been guilty of that in the past in Formula One.
“I hear all the fans (complaining) but a lot of what we saw with George Russell and Charles Leclerc in the early stages was pretty organic racing.
“I’m not saying I’m a massive fan. Let’s make a few tweaks, embrace them and see where it takes us.
“Then after a season if it really hasn’t gone down well, let’s starting thinking about the next change to make things better.”
MotorRacing host Jess Yates suggested there was an inherent tension between old school motorsport sporting principles and the future of car manufacturing, which is heading quickly towards hybrid electric engines.
“What we’re seeing is the way forward in terms of the connectivity of the technology that’s being developed in Formula One,” Yates said.
“That’s how you get all these manufacturers to the party to spend millions of dollars.
“The engine configuration is probably what we’re going to have in a road car in however many years, what we’re actually going to see roll out in real life.
“We’re going to have harvesting, super clipping. We’re all going to be using that terminology at some point when we’re driving our cars.”
She added: “Do we want that in sport? That’s the big question. What is the sporting vs technology vs entertainment value of what we’re seeing? That’s the fine line they’re treading.
“They’re going to tweak it come the end of China, maybe even at the end of Japan, we will see some changes.
“The only person who looked really happy about the regulations was George Russell.”
Supercars legend Mark Skaife said: “I think they’ll make the changes after China. They’ll sit down, take a deep breath and have a look at what’s going on.
“It’s what happens when propeller-heads and boffins make rules. That’s exactly what the issue is.
“The overtaking is all in a straight line. It’s like a highway pass. It’s absolutely wrong.
“We want genuine overtaking, we want authentic passes.
“If you compare what Supercars put on the weekend. Listen to the noise and look at the way the overtaking was done, it was as good as you’ll see. Our product was absolutely sensational.”
Motorsport journalist James Phelps said: “You didn’t (used to) need a degree to understand a race, that’s what I’m worried about.”
Co-host Paul Murray cautioned that a season of total Mercedes dominance should not necessarily mean F1 is doomed.
“Remember when Max Verstappen won everything in a season? There are times when a car or a performance is going to be better than anything else,” he said.
“The concept of dominance does not automatically speak to the failure of the category or the racing.”
Piastri’s future questioned after McLaren warning
It’s only been one race but Oscar Piastri’s reluctance to blame his team for his crash before his home race has opened the can of worms about where his future lies.
“To me, Oscar is being very nice about what happened,” Mark Skaife said.
“To me, this is a deadset car failure.
“This year he looks harder and tougher than last year. Let’s hope that he gets back on the horse and he does a great job in China.”
Piastri took some responsibility for the crash, which he said “shouldn’t have happened”, but there was a sense he was choosing his words carefully in light of last year’s team orders debacle at McLaren.
“A lot of the conversation coming in to the weekend was around what transpired last year around team orders and there’s been a real focus on dynamics,” Jess Yates said.
“I sat down with Zak Brown and Oscar Piastri and posed that question to them. It was obvious they’d had a conversation pre-season to be singing from the same hymn sheet. ‘We’re all good, we’ve got to pull the team in the same direction’.
“I gathered that he’s been told ‘if you go against the team it will not serve you. We all need to be bonding together once we work out who is going to be the fastest driver this year and which basket we’re going to put our eggs in’.”
Piastri is contracted at McLaren for another couple of seasons, but the rumblings that he might end up changing teams just won’t go away.
“Is this the right place for him? We all know what happened last year,” James Phelps said.
“Is he ever going to win a world title there? It’s pretty obvious they gave Lando some preferential treatment. They might say they didn’t.
“What’s he going to do going forward? Should he stay with the team or should he go?
“He’s got a multi year deal, some people say it ends in 2028, other people say ‘27.
“It’s pretty clear he’s got a get-out clause if Lando is favoured. Lewis had one, he got out of Mercedes just after signing, to go to Ferrari.
“He (Piastri) can go at anytime, but the question is would he be better served being a No. 2 at a team like McLaren or going somewhere else and becoming the No. 1.”
“It’s reminiscent of what happened with his manager Mark Webber and (Sebastian) Vettel, who was the golden-haired boy at that time,” Mark Skaife said.
“It’s quite hard now to make your next step. Do you get out of there?
“Do you end up at Ferrari for instance. There’s been a lot of conjecture, how long will Lewis drive for?”
The F1 season continues at the Chinese Grand Prix this weekend. Watch every session of the F1 season and catch MotorRacing 360 every Wednesday on Kayo Sports.