Are today\u2019s Formula 1 drivers still worth as much as they used to be? Max Verstappen made it crystal clear during the two World Championship races in Belgium and Hungary \u2013 no.<\/p>\n
The 28-year-old Dutchman explains it like this: with modern power units, a driver has too little control over how the power is delivered. \u201cBack in the day,\u201d Max said, \u201ca driver could make a difference in fast corners by pushing closer to the limit. Nowadays, you tend to be penalised for that sort of driving style because you have to build up energy on the straights beforehand. If you don\u2019t, it comes back to haunt you later in the lap because you run out of juice.\u201d<\/p>\n
So is the driver really too dominated by energy management these days? McLaren ace Lando Norris does not share this view.<\/p>\n
The 2025 Formula 1 champion had this to say on the subject: \u201cIt\u2019s true that some corners have lost a bit of their appeal. I\u2019m thinking of the Pouhon section in Belgium, which used to be taken at almost full throttle; there, you could make up time with a bit more skill and guts. But I stand by my opinion \u2013 an above-average driver still stands out, even now, with the new cars.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe see on circuits like the Hungaroring, where energy management is less tricky, that a good driver can still make a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo manage the electrical energy effectively, you just have to adapt a little. I think the drivers are under more pressure than before. And amidst all this, we mustn\u2019t forget how to manage the tyres. The characteristics of the 2026 tyres are such that you can\u2019t attack as recklessly as you used to. But of course I can only speak from the perspective of our car. I don\u2019t know how it feels in other Formula 1 cars.\u00bb<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the end of the day, we simply have to drive differently to how we used to, but facing up to this challenge and adapting is simply part of our job.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Are today\u2019s Formula 1 drivers still worth as much as they used to be? Max Verstappen made it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":859301,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,813,816,85],"class_list":["post-859300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859300","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=859300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859300\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/859301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=859300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=859300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=859300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}