{"id":511596,"date":"2026-03-01T10:40:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T10:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/511596\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T10:40:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T10:40:09","slug":"formula-1-will-be-harder-to-follow-for-fans-in-2026-max-verstappen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/511596\/","title":{"rendered":"Formula 1 will be harder to follow for fans in 2026 \u2013 Max Verstappen"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the average Formula 1 fan, understanding what happens in races won\u2019t become any easier, according to Max Verstappen<\/a>.<\/p>\n

F1\u2019s popularity has surged in recent years, boosted by the eponymous movie starring Brad Pitt and Netflix series Drive to Survive. But the revamped technical regulations for 2026, with much greater emphasis on energy management, could make the sport more difficult to follow, the Red Bull driver has argued.<\/p>\n

Read Also:<\/p>\n

Asked during Viaplay\u2019s media day what fans will notice from all the changes, Verstappen replied: \u201cIt will be complicated to follow and to explain. That\u2019s the main thing. In the end it\u2019s still a Formula 1 car \u2013 a race car \u2013 and we will still qualify and race. But it will take some getting used to for everyone.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlso in terms of overtaking. I honestly have no idea yet how that will play out. So there are still a lot of question marks for all of us. On the other hand, that also makes it interesting, because it gives you a reason to tune in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regarding what it will mean for him personally, he explained: \u201cYou have a certain amount of energy you can deploy over a lap, and then it depends on how good your engine is and how efficient your car is on the straights. So there are many elements that have to come together.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut because everyone now has the wings open on the straights, overtaking and defending will be different. The question is how much battery you can use at that moment, which is also quite limited. Those are all things that are still question marks for us as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Max <\/p>\n

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing<\/p>\n

Photo by: Mark Thompson \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

Verstappen was already critical of F1\u2019s 2026 direction during pre-season testing in Bahrain, and at Viaplay he again questioned whether F1 has taken the right path with the new regulations.<\/p>\n

When asked whether it is at least exciting to have a new style of driving in F1, he said: \u201cAnything you drive at the limit is difficult. It doesn\u2019t matter whether it\u2019s a Formula 1 car, a GT car or a road car. But some things are more enjoyable to drive than others. And the way we are currently trying to explain it to the average viewer \u2013 and even when I look at the data \u2013 I do ask myself: is this really what we want?\u201d<\/p>\n

Adapting to a different driving style is not the issue, Verstappen stressed. \u201cBut is it the most enjoyable way? No, it\u2019s not,\u201d he insisted, adamant that his opinion won\u2019t change even if Red Bull dominates this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me this has nothing to do with results. In the end it has to remain enjoyable, and you need to have fun in what you do. Even if you\u2019re the best at your job \u2013 whether that\u2019s racing or something else \u2013 you still need to enjoy going to work. If you don\u2019t enjoy going to work, it won\u2019t last long. I think that applies to everyone. It certainly wouldn\u2019t be nice if you didn\u2019t enjoy doing your job.\u201d<\/p>\n

The four-time world champion even suggested during pre-season testing that the new regulations did little to encourage him to extend his F1 career.<\/p>\n

Asked directly how long he expected to remain in the world championship, he replied: \u201cHopefully for a long time. But that\u2019s always very difficult to predict. Everything is a bit hard to assess at the moment, including where we stand. Hopefully it will all turn out better than expected.\u201d<\/p>\n

We want your opinion!<\/p>\n

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?<\/p>\n

Take our 5 minute survey.<\/a><\/p>\n

– The Motorsport.com Team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For the average Formula 1 fan, understanding what happens in races won\u2019t become any easier, according to Max…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":511597,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,813,256299,816,825,946,85],"class_list":["post-511596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula-1-will-be-harder-to-follow-for-fans-in-2026-u2013-max-verstappen","tag-formula1","tag-max-verstappen","tag-red-bull-racing","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=511596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511596\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/511597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=511596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=511596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=511596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}