{"id":78099,"date":"2025-08-19T15:59:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-19T15:59:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/78099\/"},"modified":"2025-08-19T15:59:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T15:59:09","slug":"fia-address-max-verstappens-terrible-prediction-as-new-f1-rules-havent-been-finished-f1-sport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/78099\/","title":{"rendered":"FIA address Max Verstappen’s ‘terrible’ prediction as new F1 rules ‘haven’t been finished’ | F1 | Sport"},"content":{"rendered":"

The FIA<\/a>\u2019s head of single-seaters, Nikolas Tombazis, has eased Max Verstappen<\/a>\u2019s fears that the 2026 Formula One cars will be \u2018terrible\u2019. He insisted that the series will explore all options to ensure that drivers are not forced to lift on straights to extract performance from the new machines.<\/p>\n

Next year, F1 will experience its first technical regulation shake-up since 2022, and one of the most dramatic in the sport\u2019s history. It introduces brand-new power units and active aerodynamics components, meaning the days of DRS overtakes are soon to be over. While there is plenty of excitement about the new cars, the reigning world champion has already voiced his concerns. Speaking in 2023 after some time in the simulator, Verstappen had a warning for the F1 paddock.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been talking about that with the team, and I\u2019ve seen the data already on the simulator as well,\u201d he said. \u201cTo me, it looks pretty terrible. I mean, if you go flat-out on the straight at Monza, I don\u2019t know what it is – like four or five hundred [metres] before the end of the straight – you have to downshift flat-out, because that\u2019s faster.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s not the way forward, [but] of course, probably that\u2019s one of the worst tracks.\u201d He also worries about the active aerodynamic components. \u201cThe cars probably have a lot less drag, so it will be even harder to overtake on the straight,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have the active aerodynamics, which you can\u2019t control; the system will control it for you. Which then I think makes it very awkward to drive, because I prefer to control it myself.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, when you\u2019re behind someone, maybe you need more front or more rear. These kinds of things. If the system starts to control that for you, I don\u2019t think that\u2019s the right way forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the latest breaking stories and headlines, sign up to our Daily Express F1 newsletter<\/a>, or join our WhatsApp community<\/a> here.<\/p>\n

However, Tombazis has provided reassurance that there will be no instances of drivers lifting off the throttle on straights when the new cars hit the track in 2026. He also noted that the new regulations are not in their final state. \u201cWe haven’t finished the rules yet in that respect,” he told Autosport<\/a>. “The rules are evolving, and we knew of these issues from day one.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cThere will be quite a lot of new provisions in order to manage the energy better and to make sure that cars are not decelerating on the straights, doing funny things, or, let’s say, doing unnatural things.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we don’t want is a situation where they have to lift off, for example, on the straights or anything like that. We will absolutely, categorically, make sure that they don’t have to lift off in a particular area in order to do something with the energy or whatever. When they need to go faster, drivers will keep the pedal to the metal, as they say.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The FIA\u2019s head of single-seaters, Nikolas Tombazis, has eased Max Verstappen\u2019s fears that the 2026 Formula One cars…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":78100,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[1687,39817,9049,8097,372,6537,3006,3803,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-78099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-f1","tag-f1","tag-f1-2026-cars","tag-f1-news","tag-fia","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-max-verstappen","tag-red-bull","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78099"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78099\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}