{"id":530964,"date":"2026-03-12T07:55:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T07:55:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/530964\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T07:55:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T07:55:13","slug":"verstappen-sees-a-jungle-in-f1-but-still-hopes-for-simple-solutions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/530964\/","title":{"rendered":"Verstappen sees ‘a jungle’ in F1 but still hopes for ‘simple solutions’"},"content":{"rendered":"

SHANGHAI (AP) \u2014 Max Verstappen’s blunt assessment: \u201cIt’s a jungle\u201d in Formula 1.<\/a><\/p>\n

The four-time F1 world champion isn’t a fan of the new 2026 technical regulations<\/a>, despite working his way up from No. 20 on the grid to place sixth at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix<\/a> last weekend.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Verstappen predicted his Red Bull probably couldn\u2019t go any higher than fifth place this weekend in the Chinese Grand Prix \u2014 even if he starts much closer to the front in Sunday’s race in Shanghai \u2014 because of the big gap between Mercedes and Ferrari and all the other teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, it\u2019s such a jungle out there at the moment,” Verstappen said Thursday at the driver news conferences in Shanghai. \u201cI mean, I would hope that it gets a bit closer … but it\u2019s clear that at the moment we cannot fight with those cars.\u201d<\/p>\n

It’s not the first time Verstappen has taken a swipe<\/a> at the sport’s new regulations, which he thinks are anti-fun, anti-racing and could potentially be dangerous.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

F1\u2019s new cars are complex, with unprecedented changes across the chassis and power unit, which now feature an almost 50:50 output split between the turbo 1.6-liter V6 engine and electrical energy harvested from the brakes \u2014 one that requires a new, often counterintuitive driving style.<\/p>\n

One of Verstappen’s concerns is starting the race with empty batteries in the hybrid cars. Franco Colapinto only very narrowly avoided Liam Lawson at the start of the Australian Grand Prix, with the Racing Bulls<\/a> car was slow off the line with minimal battery power \u2014 many drivers started with depleted batteries among the teething issues with the new rules.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a few simple solutions, but they need to be allowed by the FIA, with the battery related stuff, because, yeah, starting with the 0% battery \u2014 not a lot of fun and also quite dangerous,\u201d Verstappen said. “You can see, I mean, we almost had a massive shunt in Melbourne in the start.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is something that I think can be easily fixed.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for speculation he may quit if reforms aren’t made quickly, Verstappen said: \u201cI don\u2019t want to leave, but I also hope, of course, that it gets better.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had discussions with F1 and FIA and, I think, we are working toward something, hopefully, and, hopefully that will improve everything,” he said, without elaborating on what the changes might be. \u201cI hope already for next year we can already make a decent improvement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

A 24-hour switch<\/p>\n

In the meantime, in the search of more \u201cfun,\u201d he has confirmed this week he’ll be driving his first 24-hour<\/a> sportscar race at the historic N\u00fcrburgring Nordschleife<\/a> circuit in May. F1 hasn\u2019t used it since 1976, when then-reigning champion Niki Lauda<\/a> suffered severe burns in a crash.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one of the best races in the world, it\u2019s one of the best tracks. I mean, honestly, in a GT car for me that\u2019s like the perfect speed round there,” Verstappen said. “I think if you go anything faster it can be a bit dangerous in places.”<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, I\u2019ve been watching it, of course, for a long time. I know a lot of my friends, of course, that have been racing in it already. They say it\u2019s one of the best things ever, and I like racing other cars as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 28-year Verstappen says he still has career ambitions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t need to be only a Formula 1 driver, I can also do other things,” he said. “I\u2019ve done this for a while and I\u2019ve achieved everything that I wanted to achieve, so that\u2019s why I want to explore other things, and I don\u2019t want to do them when I\u2019m 40 years old. So now I think this is the perfect age to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP auto racing: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/auto-racing<\/a><\/p>\n

The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SHANGHAI (AP) \u2014 Max Verstappen’s blunt assessment: \u201cIt’s a jungle\u201d in Formula 1. The four-time F1 world champion…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":530965,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[48546,49,48,116179,578,576,577,1885,82],"class_list":["post-530964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-australian-grand-prix","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-chinese-grand-prix","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-max-verstappen","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530964","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=530964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530964\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/530965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=530964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=530964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=530964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}