GPDA chairman Alexander Wurz says the F1 drivers’ WhatsApp group is “exploding” with suggestions over adjustments to the technical regulations.

During the April shutdown, talks are planned between F1, the FIA, the drivers, teams and power unit manufacturers over potential adjustments to the energy management demands of the new power units after multiple issues across the first three races.

Carlos Sainz, who serves as a director on the drivers’ trade union body, was particularly vocal after Oliver Bearman’s monster accident in the Japanese GP that the FIA needed to listen to drivers’ feedback and input in re-shaping the regulations. 

Speaking ahead of talks, Wurz, himself a former F1 driver, explained how the class of 2026 are rife with potential ideas.

“In that famous WhatsApp group, which we set up in 2015 or 2016, it’s really going off now, it’s exploding,” Wurz told the Lift and Roast podcast.

“I’ve rarely seen it so active. That group is overflowing with emotions, possible solutions, technical proposals and ideas on how to still convince everyone that the drivers should be listened to.

“That’s super, and that’s beautiful.

“Of course, I can’t share any of that – I don’t. I’m not crossing the line of my role as GPDA director right now. What is discussed there stays there.

“But the beautiful thing, and my conclusion, is: the drivers are so emotional and purely interested in the product, that politics doesn’t really matter to them.”