Max Verstappen has once again made clear he’s not a fan of the new F1 regulations. The upcoming season marks the start of a fresh regulatory cycle, with greater emphasis on electrification and battery management. After the first test week in Bahrain, Verstappen already dismissed the cars as ‘Formula E on steroids’. In a new podcast interview he expands on his view.
In Bahrain Verstappen even called the new cars ‘unworthy of Formula 1’, precisely because battery management leads to slower lap times. Drivers must ensure they generate enough energy and will at times have to deliberately sacrifice pace. On the Up to Speed-podcast hosted by Naomi Schiff and David Coulthard among others, Verstappen explained why this threatens to become the ‘least fun F1 era’.
Everything focused on management
“The car has less grip, but accelerates much faster out of the corner,” said the four-time world champion. “The whole layout is completely different. The tyres are different, so the way you drive through a corner changes as well. The grip no longer comes mainly from the floor, but is generated in other ways. As a result you’ll probably slide more, while at the same time you have more power on corner exit. With less grip that’s obviously hard to control. In slow corners you therefore have to wait longer before you can get back on the throttle.”
“It really feels different to the past few years,” Verstappen sighed. “Before, you climbed in and it felt familiar straight away. The car was usually a step forward compared with the year before. Now you actually have to change your driving style and approach. I think so far this is my least-favourite F1 era,” he admitted bluntly. “The word ‘management’ will come up a lot this season.”
‘Do it for the Red Bull engineers’
Despite his criticism, Verstappen stressed he still wants to extract the maximum from his RB22, not least because it’s running its own power unit for the first time. “In the end you always make the best of the situation in a race; that goes for everyone,” he continued. “But some things are simply more enjoyable than others, and this is less enjoyable for me. That doesn’t change the fact that I’ll give everything I can in the car. I owe that to the people who designed the chassis and engine. It’s incredible what they’ve built from scratch.”
“So far we haven’t seen any issues,” he said of the new Red Bull driveline. “Is it quick enough? No idea. That remains to be seen.” Verstappen emphasised he wants to fully commit to the engineers who — in collaboration with Ford — worked on the new platform. “It’s fantastic to work with such talented people. And I’ll of course do my best for that,” he reiterated. “But yeah, for me it’s just less fun; it’s not pure Formula 1 anymore.”
See the F1 calendar for 2026 here
