{"id":873983,"date":"2026-08-30T15:40:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-30T15:40:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/873983\/"},"modified":"2026-08-30T15:40:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-30T15:40:18","slug":"carlos-sainz-changes-in-drivers-competitiveness-could-be-down-to-f1-rules-era","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/873983\/","title":{"rendered":"Carlos Sainz: Changes in drivers\u2019 competitiveness could be down to F1 rules era"},"content":{"rendered":"

Carlos\u00a0Sainz<\/a> has theorised that Formula 1 drivers\u2019 levels of competitiveness and performance swings have been dictated by the regulation changes.<\/p>\n

F1 underwent its biggest overhaul of rules last winter, with changes to both the chassis and engine, which moved grand\u00a0prix racing away from ground-effects cars to active aero and a 50\/50 balance between internal combustion and electrical power.<\/p>\n

The changes posed an entirely new challenge to the drivers, who needed to adapt to both different car characteristics and management of power units that were hugely dissimilar to the previous era of cars that were used between 2022-25.<\/p>\n

Sainz feels that transition has triggered the shake-up in driver competitiveness witnessed in 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s start with one thing: it\u2019s been impressive to see how much the performance balance between team-mates has changed. Not only between\u00a0Antonelli and Russell, but also between Hamilton and Leclerc, and with Verstappen not being as dominant over Hadjar,\u201d Sainz said in an exclusive interview<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a lesson for everyone. We\u2019ve had confirmation that when the fundamental concept of a car changes, the competitive picture can change as well.<\/p>\n

\"Lewis <\/p>\n

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari<\/p>\n

Photo by: Joe Portlock \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s something I\u2019ve always believed: a car can suit you extremely well or it can be far from what you would ideally want, but sooner or later you have to adapt. It might take some time, but eventually you have to find a way.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always thought that many results in Formula 1 have also been helped by the combination of being in the right place at the right time. For many years, I\u2019ve believed there are cars that simply suit your driving style from the very first laps.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sainz expanded on his idea by admitting the ground-effect cars never suited his preferred driving style and he needed to learn to adapt to extract the best performance from them.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt happened when the ground-effect regulations came in. From 2022\u00a0onwards, for four years, I was never able to drive in my natural style,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cI adapted and still managed to achieve some good results, but I remain convinced that the Carlos who drove during the ground-effect era wasn\u2019t the same Carlos who drove the 2021, 2020 or 2019 cars.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not saying I was slow with the ground-effect cars. I think I had some very good races during that period, both with Ferrari<\/a> and Williams<\/a>, but I always had to adapt to something that didn\u2019t come as naturally to me.<\/p>\n

\"Charles <\/p>\n

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari F1-75, passes the beached car of Carlos Sainz, Ferrari F1-75<\/p>\n

Photo by: Andy Hone \/ Motorsport Images<\/p>\n

\u201cI had to work harder at it, and I think it was the same for other drivers too.\u201d<\/p>\n

The four-time grand\u00a0prix winner also felt changing teams has a similar impact \u2013 but it wasn\u2019t necessarily a disadvantage in terms of learning to adapt to a new car or squad against a team-mate who is already established.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the final test of the season in\u00a0Abu Dhabi [December 2018], I got into their [McLaren<\/a>\u2019s] car for the first time and immediately felt that it drove in a way that was exactly in line with what I liked,\u201d Sainz said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think during my two years with McLaren, you saw the best version of me, although I also really liked the Toro Rosso. I liked the Renault a little less, while I immediately liked the 2021 Ferrari and I always performed very well in that car.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen, with the arrival of the ground-effect regulations, things became more difficult, but this year, I\u2019ve started enjoying the driving more again.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the end, I don\u2019t think a team can design a car specifically around your driving style. Sometimes you just get a fortunate combination, and when that happens you feel unbeatable. You have the feeling that it\u2019s your car.\u201d<\/p>\n

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– The Motorsport.com Team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Carlos\u00a0Sainz has theorised that Formula 1 drivers\u2019 levels of competitiveness and performance swings have been dictated by the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":873984,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,4971,442793,817,813,816,85],"class_list":["post-873983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-carlos-sainz","tag-carlos-sainz-changes-in-driversu2019-competitiveness-could-be-down-to-f1-rules-era","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873983","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=873983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873983\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/873984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=873983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=873983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=873983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}