Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\nIt has led to a new phenomenon called \u201csuper-clipping\u201d 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.<\/p>\n
![\"Charles](\"https:\/\/content.api.news\/v3\/images\/bin\/237f0f010f8970e725d4a39951055f5a\")
<\/p>\n
A radio message Leclerc said to his team on Sunday said it all. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I press it, it feels like the mushroom in Mario Kart,\u201d Leclerc told his race engineer. <\/p>\n
The Monagesque racer has taken it a step further ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai where he shared a video of himself pretending to play the popular Nintendo game while sitting in the cockpit of his Ferrari.<\/p>\n
A video shared by his Ferrari team shows Leclerc\u2019s screen panel replaced by a Nintendo Switch where the 28-year-old appeared to be playing an old version of the iconic computer game. <\/p>\n
In the video, the camera shifts from Leclerc\u2019s screen to his face, where he is seen flashing a cheeky grin.<\/p>\n
His antics come on the same day Red Bull champ Max Verstappen took another swipe at the new regulations, also referring to 2026 F1 cars as \u201cMario Karts\u201d. <\/p>\n
During an official FIA press conference ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix Verstappen did not hold back. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve found a cheaper solution. I swapped the simulator for my Nintendo Switch and, yeah, practising a bit of Mario Kart, actually,\u201d he said when asked about getting used to the new style of racing.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, finding the mushrooms is going quite well. The blue shell is a bit more difficult, but I\u2019m working on it. The rockets are still not there. The rocket is coming.\u201d<\/p>\n
The new regulations did make for exciting racing at times in Australia. There were 45 overtakes at the 2025 Australian Grand Prix and 120 overtakes at this year\u2019s race.<\/p>\n
But Lando Norris and Verstappen heavily criticised the new regulations with Norris branding the position switching \u201cartificial\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve come from the best cars ever made in Formula One, and the nicest to drive, to probably the worst. It sucks,\u201d Norris said after qualifying.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone knows what the issues are. It\u2019s just the fact the engine is a 50-50 split and it just doesn\u2019t work.\u201d<\/p>\n
FIA 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. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt wouldn\u2019t surprise me if tweaks were made,\u201d Sky Sports commentator David Croft told the new MotorRacing 360 show, which you can watch on Kayo Sports on Wednesdays.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019ll be a knee-jerk reaction, we\u2019ve been guilty of that in the past in Formula One.<\/p>\n
![\"Piastri](\"https:\/\/content.api.news\/v3\/images\/bin\/1142823a0cd077906e1b6ee574ade15a\")
<\/p>\n
\u201cI 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. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not saying I\u2019m a massive fan. Let\u2019s make a few tweaks, embrace them and see where it takes us. <\/p>\n
\u201cThen after a season if it really hasn\u2019t gone down well, let\u2019s starting thinking about the next change to make things better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Supercars legend Mark Skaife said: \u201cI think they\u2019ll make the changes after China. They\u2019ll sit down, take a deep breath and have a look at what\u2019s going on. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s what happens when propeller-heads and boffins make rules. That\u2019s exactly what the issue is. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe overtaking is all in a straight line. It\u2019s like a highway pass. It\u2019s absolutely wrong.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want genuine overtaking, we want authentic passes. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf 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\u2019ll see. Our product was absolutely sensational.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Charles Leclerc has shared an image on Instagram proving what a joke Formula One has become this year.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":536669,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,806,805,803,804,85],"class_list":["post-536668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536668","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=536668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536668\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/536669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=536668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=536668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=536668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}