{"id":475357,"date":"2026-02-14T23:05:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T23:05:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/475357\/"},"modified":"2026-02-14T23:05:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T23:05:08","slug":"anti-racing-verstappen-hits-out-at-f1-rule-changes-as-opinion-divides-drivers-formula-one-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/475357\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Anti-racing\u2019: Verstappen hits out at F1 rule changes as opinion divides drivers | Formula One 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Driver disquiet over the new Formula One regulations marked the second pre-season test which concluded in Bahrain this week, with world champions Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen<\/a> delivering damning verdicts on driving the new cars, while in competitive terms leading contenders Mercedes and Red Bull were entertainingly vehement in each declaring the other as favourite.<\/p>\n

Times in testing must be taken with a liberal amount of salt, more so this year as so much time is being put into understanding the new cars and how best to drive them, without yet really pushing toward real performance limits. Nonetheless, across the three days in Bahrain it was Mercedes who finished on top with Kimi Antonelli and George Russell setting the quickest times, from the two Ferraris of Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris in fifth and sixth for McLaren and Verstappen in seventh for Red Bull.<\/p>\n

The Red Bull does look formidably quick but what was of real concern for F1 was the four-time champion\u2019s open disdain for driving it. The Dutchman dismissed the energy management that now plays a critical role as being \u201cnot fun to drive\u201d and \u201cFormula E on steroids\u201d. Indeed, it was the antithesis of racing he believed as he once more insinuated that he could leave F1 if he ceased to enjoy the racing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe proportion of the car looks good, that\u2019s not the problem. It\u2019s just everything else that is a bit anti-racing,\u201d he said. \u201cProbably people will not be happy with me saying this. But I am outspoken and why am I not allowed to say what I think of my race car?\u201d<\/p>\n

His words carried all the more impact for echoing those of Hamilton<\/a> a day earlier. \u201cNone of the fans are going to understand it, I don\u2019t think. It\u2019s so complex. It\u2019s ridiculously complex,\u201d he said. \u201cI sat in a meeting the other day and they\u2019re taking us through it and it\u2019s like you need a degree to fully understand it all.\u201d<\/p>\n

With F1 riding a wave of popularity there will be concern their doubts manifest into a less than edifying spectacle come the first round in Melbourne on 8 March. The regulation changes this season amount to the biggest rule in F1 history with new engines \u2013 featuring an almost 50-50 split between combustion and electrical power leading to the complex energy management demands on drivers \u2013 new chassis, new tyres and the use of fully sustainable fuel.<\/p>\n

However, there were not only dissenting voices in Bahrain. The current world champion, McLaren\u2019s Lando Norris, declared it \u201ca lot of fun\u201d and had short shrift for Verstappen<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he wants to retire, he can retire,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t expect Max is going to go out and not give a shit, he\u2019s going to try and win. Comparing to the older cars, it doesn\u2019t feel as pretty and beautiful to drive, but it\u2019s still pretty good and it\u2019s still early days.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mechanics work on Max Verstappen\u2019s Red Bull in Bahrain. Photograph: Ali Haider\/EPA<\/p>\n

McLaren believe they still have work to do to best learn how to exploit the new demands of the Mercedes power unit with their car but appear to be there or thereabouts with the other expected frontrunners Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari. Ferrari too can consider a very positive three days in Bahrain with Leclerc\u2019s race simulation run showing enormous pace, as did Hamilton\u2019s on the final day, noted by Norris and Russell. With aero advances set for the final test, Ferrari are looking very promising indeed.<\/p>\n

Mercedes had appeared to be early favourites after the first test in Barcelona<\/a> but in Bahrain it was Red Bull, who are building their own engine for the first time, who caught the eye as they managed to recover energy so efficiently they could deploy it to serious and extended effect on the straights, where Verstappen was repeatedly demonstrating a fearsome straight-line speed.<\/p>\n

The Mercedes team principal, Toto Wolff, said it had set \u201cthe benchmark\u201d at perhaps a second per lap of extra pace and Russell called it a \u2018pretty scary\u201d advantage. Which inevitably led to Red Bull\u2019s technical director Pierre Wach\u00e9 playing the testing game with gusto as he insisted his team to be at best fourth fastest behind Mercedes Ferrari and McLaren. Verstappen joined the chorus in suggesting Mercedes were clearly sandbagging. \u201cI can tell you one thing: just wait until Melbourne and see how much power they suddenly find. I already know that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

All of which is part and parcel of the gamesmanship in testing but behind it also lies some serious politicking as the row involving Mercedes<\/a> having exploited a loophole to gain an advantage in the compression ratio of their engine rumbled on in the background. There will be an important F1 commission meeting next week in Bahrain, at which the governing body the FIA is known to understood to want to close the issue before Melbourne.<\/p>\n

Away from the sharp end the much-anticipated surge from Aston Martin with their first car designed by Adrian Newey has been lacklustre at best. Lance Stroll berated the engine (a failing already acknowledged by manufacturers Honda), balance and grip as he noted pointedly they were four seconds off the pace of the leaders. They have at least managed to put in some decent running now but the car\u2019s current weaknesses appear to leave a mountain to climb, even given the exponential rate of development expected this season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Driver disquiet over the new Formula One regulations marked the second pre-season test which concluded in Bahrain this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":475358,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,578,576,577,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-475357","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\/475357","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=475357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475357\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/475358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}