Drivers remain critical of F1 2026

Max Verstappen and Lando Norris remain critical of the sport following rules overhaul.

It is a fact that one of the biggest contributors to F1’s coffers is Sky Sports, which has broadcast rights around the world not only in the UK. With subscriptions due to rise next month, it would be economic suicide for members of the Sky F1 team to talk down the sport, consequently viewers were constantly bombarded with claims about how great today’s race was, with its battles throughout the field from lights to flag and a veritable overtaking fest.

True, there were plenty of passes, but most were either courtesy of the push of a button or the need to harvest energy, there were few, if any, of the Daniel ‘King of the Late Brakers’ Ricciardo type moves, no smoking tyres as one driver sought to out-brake a rival.

Despite having the fastest cars, both Mercedes drivers had difficult starts due to battery levels, George Russell admitting that he “had nothing in the tank”, while local hero Oscar Piastri crashed out before the race had even begun, the McLaren driver subsequently revealing that he “had about 100kW extra power that I didn’t expect”, helpfully adding that this “is not insignificant”.

Lando Norris and Max Verstappen who have made no secret of their dislike of the new generation of rules, remain unconvinced.

“It’s chaos,” said the Briton, referring to energy management and the vast difference in speeds depending on whether a driver is storing energy or releasing it, “you’re going to have a big accident, which is a shame. You’re driving and we’re the ones just waiting for something to happen and something to go quite horribly wrong.

“It’s not a nice position to be in,” he continued, “but there’s nothing we can really do about that now. It’s a shame, it’s very artificial, depending on what the power unit decides to do and randomly does at times. You just get overtaken by five cars or you can just do nothing about it sometimes.

“There’s nothing we can change about it, so there’s no point in saying any more. But depending on what people do, you can have 30, 40, 50 kph speeds,” he continued. “When someone hits someone at that speed, you’re going to fly and you’re going to go over the fence and you’re going to do a lot of damage to yourself and maybe to others. That’s a pretty horrible thing to think about.”

“I love racing,” said Verstappen, but we can only take so much, right? I think they are willing to listen, FIA and F1, I just hope of course that there is some action.

“I mean it’s not that I’m the only one saying it, a lot are saying it, it’s drivers, fans… we just want the best for the sport,” he insisted. “It’s not like we are critical just to be critical, we are critical for a reason, we want it to be F1, proper F1 on steroids, today that of course was again not the case.”

Asked if the sport should be concerned at the likes of he and others turning their backs and walking away from F1, he said: “I think what they should worry about is the rules, just focus on that.

“They ask questions, and I give my opinions on what I would like to see, and what I think is better for the sport because I do care about it, I love racing, and I want it to be better than this, right?

“Let’s see what we can do,” he added. “I hope that even maybe during this year we can come up with some different solutions so it becomes more enjoyable for everyone.”

However, as far as the Sky team are concerned, today’s race was the first instalment of what is going to be the best season ever.

Check out our Sunday gallery from Melbourne here.