The 1992 World Champion Nigel Mansell warned Formula 1 cannot lose sight of what it is and must return to normality following the introduction of the 2026 regulations.
F1’s 2026 regulations have caused uproar among fans and drivers alike, with Formula One Management and the FIA responding with tweaks to the regulations ahead of the 2026 Miami Grand Prix to try and fix the situation.
Mansell believes having the discussions is a positive achievement regardless of the outcome; he said:Â “I think the fabulous thing is that everyone’s talking. It’s been a massive change in regulations, both with the car and the engine.
“I think there’s going to be improvements with the harvesting of power. Hopefully, they won’t be slowing down too much into some of the corners now,” he added.
Mansell, a legend of the sport coming from an era when drivers were gladiators, insisted drivers should be in control of what happens in the cockpit.
He said: “I think it is so vitally important for the drivers to be able to drive the cars to the maximum, as opposed to having a computer telling them when they can brake or can’t brake. Fernando Alonso made us all laugh by saying that his chef could drive the car better than he could at the moment.”
“We have to get back to normality,” the Briton warned. “Formula One is the grand stallion of all racing worldwide, and we mustn’t lose sight of that. And as technology gathers pace, they can do these other tweaks to do 50/50 later, but they just need to give more power to the cars at the moment to go racing.”
More power to the elbow of the drivers
Drivers, with Max Verstappen in the lead, have expressed their dissatisfaction with the current regulations, aside from Mercedes’ duo, George Russell and Kimi Antonelli, who are simply happy cleaning up with their field-leading W17.
“In engineering terms, if it’s not broken, you don’t try to fix it,” Mansell added. “People don’t understand that there’s major changes which have been in place for some time. It takes a lot of time for all the teams and manufacturers to put it all together.
“So the complexity of the rules is enormous, and if you don’t get it right, along with the combination of the power units, harvesting of electrical power, and so on and so forth. It’s a minefield.
“Drivers can fall foul of so many regulations, and yet it’s the computers doing it all. I’d just like to see more power to the elbow of the drivers, as opposed to computers doing it.
“Going back to the 70s and 80s, 90+ percent of the engines were Cosworth DFV. Everyone had the same engines pretty much, and we had fantastic racing. You knew the cars, the drivers, the tyres, the mechanics, and the engineers made a huge difference.
“I have tremendous sympathy and support the drivers one hundred percent with what they’re saying. They need to be listened to. They’ve got a job to do, and they do a fantastic job, all of them.”
The job is not done yet
Mansell went on urging the F1 management and governing body to keep working, despite recent changes, to perfect the regulations.
“It’s all well and good, coming up with new ideas and regulations,” he said. “All I’d say to the powers that be is that they’ve done a fantastic job, but they have to work, and they have to be able to be implemented safely and properly.
“When they’ve tweaked it enough that it works, it’s fantastic. But until it does work properly for everybody, we need to keep tweaking it, I think urgently now, so that we get the show on the road.
“As long as it doesn’t carry on for much longer, they’ll be fine. They’re all doing a great job. What the manufacturers have done, the FIA, the governing body, and Liberty Media themselves.”
“They mustn’t lose sight of the fact that the cars need to race properly. It has some growing pains, but it has been the most difficult start of any year because they’ve had three races and then this month or so off.
“And now we’ve got Miami, so I think everyone’s excited about that at the end of next week as we can get racing again,” the 72-year-old concluded. (Source: Aceodds.com)