{"id":829883,"date":"2026-07-28T21:43:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T21:43:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/829883\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T21:43:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T21:43:12","slug":"do-we-have-the-best-formula-1-drivers-ever-racing-the-worst-cars-in-the-sports-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/829883\/","title":{"rendered":"Do we have the best Formula 1 drivers ever ‘racing’ the worst cars in the sport’s history?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Formula 1\u2019s 2026 rules are forcing the world\u2019s leading drivers to wrestle with unpredictable handling, software-controlled power delivery of “insanely stupid” cars according to Christian Danner.<\/p>\n

The former Formula 1 driver turned German television pundit believes the current generation is difficult, unnatural and often unpleasant to drive. However, he stopped short of labelling them the worst cars in the sport’s history.<\/p>\n

Danner\u2019s assessment followed an eventful Hungarian Grand Prix won by Lando Norris<\/a>. Max Verstappen finished a surprising P2 for Red Bull, while Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli completed the podium.<\/p>\n

Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton finished fourth and fifth after Ferrari\u2019s expected challenge became trapped in traffic. Oscar Piastri had been fighting Norris for victory before retiring with a mechanical problem 14 laps from the finish.<\/p>\n

Danner told the OLBG<\/a>\u00a0 media team: \u201cWell, for me, it was quite funny because I actually participated in the very first one 40 years ago, and ever since that day, I have all sorts of memories about it \u2013 the races I did myself there, but also when I came to watch the races, to do the commentary and everything.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody remembers it 40 years ago. It was just behind the Iron Curtain, and when I spoke to Martin Brundle, he said, \u2018Oh, yes, yes, yes, and you were driving a Trabant\u2019, which is true. A Trabant is an East German production two-stroke car, and all these sorts of things. So I had a good time in Budapest.\u201d<\/p>\n

The circuit remains notoriously difficult for overtaking. Norris produced one of the few conventional braking moves, while much of the remaining action depended on energy deployment, tyre differences and strategic offsets.<\/p>\n

It was actually quite entertaining\"start<\/p>\n

Danner added: \u201cAs far as the race was concerned, the regulations made this race a slightly better race compared to the ones we\u2019ve seen there before. I think there was really only one thorough outbraking manoeuvre, which was done by Lando.\u00a0 The rest was overtaking, but it was the classic overtaking, or the first half of the yo-yo effect. <\/p>\n

“But there was no second straight where you could do the second yo-yo. So, it was actually quite entertaining. I don\u2019t want to take anything away from that race. It was one of the best Budapest races I\u2019ve seen,” admitted the 68-year-old German.<\/p>\n

Hungary also exposed the physical corrections drivers must make behind the wheel. Verstappen spent much of the weekend fighting an unpredictable Red Bull before strategy elevated him to second. Ferrari\u2019s drivers struggled to follow closely, while George Russell recovered to seventh after dropping to the back following an anti-stall problem.<\/p>\n

Danner said: \u201cAll these cars are a real handful. If you compare it to a few years ago, or even last year, compare the steering activity. Jesus Christ, they\u2019re correcting it, and have understeer, and twitch oversteer, and have everything turning in.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo drive that car smoothly without a lot of correction on the steering wheel is virtually impossible. So, in that respect, we\u2019ve seen nicer cars than the ones we\u2019ve got now,” ventured Danner.<\/p>\n

The Hungaroring\u2019s short straights meant the championship\u2019s controversial energy-management characteristics were less visible. At faster circuits, drivers can suffer significant electrical deployment losses and sudden changes in available power.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve got to live with it\"Verstappen-Hungary-4-2026\"\/<\/p>\n

Danner believes the deeper problem is the disconnect between the throttle pedal and the power ultimately delivered: \u201cIt\u2019s down to the regulations that you have to cope with a fact that you don\u2019t like in a racing car, which is you\u2019re totally out of control once you\u2019re using your right foot on the throttle.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reaction you get from the engine is not what your foot does. It\u2019s what the software behind the throttle pedal, in combination with Mercedes, for sure, with AI, controls. So you don\u2019t get what you think you should get, and that is a very bad feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Danner pointed towards the manufacturers involved in shaping Formula 1\u2019s new power-unit regulations: \u201cThe combustion engine we\u2019ve got this year is a joke. It\u2019s so bad. Why is it so bad? Audi. Mainly Audi. They insisted on less fuel flow, less compression ratio, and less boost. So the same, or very similar engine last year delivered about 850 brake horsepower. Now, 550.\u201d<\/p>\n

The former Arrows, Zakspeed and Rial driver contrasted the current formula with the turbocharged Benetton BMW he recently drove at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.<\/p>\n

Danner concluded that the cars are not necessarily historically bad pieces of engineering: \u201cI would say the cars are very definitely not a lot of fun to drive. But are they the worst cars, or really bad cars? They\u2019re a result of the regulations, and that\u2019s as usual.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve gone through these regulation changes in the past, and this particular one is one I think is so insanely stupid, but we\u2019ve got to live with it,” lamented Danner, as Formula 1 enters the summer break.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Formula 1\u2019s 2026 rules are forcing the world\u2019s leading drivers to wrestle with unpredictable handling, software-controlled power delivery…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":829884,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[403158,64,63,817,222471,813,816,31147,18923,85],"class_list":["post-829883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-2026-f1-rules","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-f1","tag-f1-opinion","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-hungarian-gp","tag-power-unit","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829883","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=829883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829883\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/829884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=829883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=829883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=829883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}