Reigning champion Lando Norris has countered Max Verstappen\u2019s criticism of Formula 1\u2019s new regulations, saying there is \u201cnothing to complain about\u201d from a driver\u2019s perspective and his 2025 title rival can quit the sport if he does not like the new cars.<\/p>\n
Verstappen labelled the new regulations \u201canti-racing\u201d after the second day of testing in Bahrain, saying the new cars are not as fun to drive as the previous generation.<\/p>\n
The crux of Verstappen\u2019s argument is that the emphasis on energy management under the new regulations means drivers can no longer drive \u201cflat-out\u201d without draining the power unit\u2019s battery and having a negative impact on overall lap time.<\/p>\n
Last year, the four-time world champion said he would consider quitting F1 if he does not find the new cars fun to drive, although when the same question was put to him on Thursday he said \u201clet\u2019s see\u201d.<\/p>\n
But Norris thinks the new cars are still fun to drive, saying the rest of the grid, including Verstappen, are free to leave the sport if they do not enjoy it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had a lot of fun. I really enjoyed it,\u201d he said. \u201cSo yeah, if he wants to retire he can retire.<\/p>\n
\u201cFormula 1 changes all the time, sometimes it\u2019s a bit better to drive, sometimes not as good to drive. But yeah, we get paid a stupid amount of money to drive so you can\u2019t really complain at the end of the day.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny driver can go and find something else to do, you know? It\u2019s not like he has to be here or any driver has to be here.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a challenge but it\u2019s a good fun challenge for the engineers, for the drivers. It\u2019s different, you have to drive it in a different way and understand things differently and manage things differently. But you still get to drive cars and travel the world and have a lot of fun. So, no nothing to complain about.\u201d<\/p>\n
Norris added that Verstappen will always be a fierce competitor in F1, regardless of the regulations.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t expect Max is going to go out and not give a s–, you know?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
– F1 testing: Charles Leclerc sets the pace on day 2 in Bahrain- Mercedes, Red Bull hit snags while Ferrari go fastest — Day 2 as it happened<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s going to try and win and Max is never going to not try, he\u2019s just not going to smile as much maybe — I guess that might be the case.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt certainly doesn\u2019t feel as quick as the past few years and it certainly doesn\u2019t handle as perfectly, but I\u2019m sure if he came into this and this was the F1 car he started driving then he probably would say it\u2019s amazing.<\/p>\n
\u201cComparing to the older cars, it doesn\u2019t feel as pretty and beautiful to drive, but it\u2019s still pretty good. And it\u2019s all early days, it\u2019s early days of a regulation that\u2019s meant to be a good amount slower.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut if you fast forward to the end of this year and look ahead to next year already, we\u2019re going to be going a lot quicker by then. Anyone and everyone can make their own opinions and have their own opinions, and say and decide what they want to do.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one should complain about that or be upset about it. Every driver has their own opinions and he didn\u2019t like it and I like it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Reigning champion Lando Norris has countered Max Verstappen\u2019s criticism of Formula 1\u2019s new regulations, saying there is \u201cnothing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":470980,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,578,576,577,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-470979","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-formula-1","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-f1","11":"tag-formula-1","12":"tag-formula1","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=470979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/470980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=470979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=470979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=470979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}