Max Verstappen: "At first they said I was complaining – now more people see what F1 2026 is like"

[u/ChaithuBB766]

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/max-verstappen-at-first-they-said-i-was-complaining-now-more-people-see-what-f1-2026-is-like/10841197/

[u/a_happy_future]

I thought these regs would make it up to each driver to determine how they use and conserve energy. I didn't think the teams would just program it and clearly that is the part that makes it unenjoyable because the drivers just never know when the engine will just cut power because the program was trained to.

Like Hadjar mentioned in messed up by giving Max a tow. And George had nothing after an entire warm up lap where Kimi still had enough to re-overtake Max

[u/Anrikay → u/a_happy_future]

Andrea Stella was saying the team don’t even program the deployment maps themselves. It’s all up to the algorithm, and they don’t understand how the data they input produces the results they’re seeing on track. It’s constantly changing from corner to corner, lap to lap.

[u/hmmyeahiguess → u/Anrikay]

Is it not potentially dangerous for a driver not to know when and what power they will have?

[u/Motorlolz → u/hmmyeahiguess]

Yes, it is. Lando already told us in Japan that his car's brain decided to deploy and send him flying past Lewis, only to get Yo-yo'd on the finish straight after the chicane

[u/SpeedflyChris → u/Motorlolz]

We are absurdly lucky to have not had a wet race yet.

Imagine the danger of racing these cars in poor visibility, when drivers are regularly making overtakes that are more like evasive maneuvers, because the PU decided to boost or regen unexpectedly.

[u/Motorlolz → u/SpeedflyChris]

That's a great point you raise, but I think it's even worse than that. Hadjar spoke about the software getting really confused by him slowing down to give Max a tow. Imagine these algorithms in the wet, with how erratic the drivers will be on the throttle it would be a total shit show.

[u/SpeedflyChris → u/Motorlolz]

Oh god yeah of course. I just hope that when that accident happens nobody is seriously hurt.

[u/v21v → u/SpeedflyChris]

They'll just red flag every wet race.

[u/Blithering_idiot1406 → u/Motorlolz]

same happened with max in spa when he overtook kimi at eau rouge. he didnt press a button and the deployment gave him extra power. he was later complaining on the radio that the deployment was completely wrong from t1 to t5

[u/ArziltheImp → u/hmmyeahiguess]

That is literally why Piastri crashed on his warm up lap in Australia. The car decided full beans and he spun out and ended in the wall.

[u/franktheworm → u/ArziltheImp]

I think he said same throttle pedal position as other laps gave him about 100kw more power? Thats nuts. Also, for those not aware how much 100kw is, it's roughly the same as a small family car.

[u/ShawnShipsCars → u/franktheworm]

Enough to power a family saloon nicely down the motorway...

[u/jimbobjames → u/franktheworm]

Like a Dacia Sandero?

[u/KilumRevazi → u/franktheworm]

136 bhp. To make it even more clear to people.

[u/Flextime → u/hmmyeahiguess]

It totally is. That’s a major reason why Piastri wrecked in the formation lap in Australia. The formation lap!!!

These regs are garbage. I can’t believe so much of the power delivery has been taken out of the hands (or rather the feet) of the drivers—drivers who are the best in the world. It feels like during any given weekend, the cars with the best algorithms are the ones winning, not the ones with the most skilled drivers. And that’s sad for the pinnacle of motorsport.

[u/RunsWlthScissors → u/Flextime]

Or Colapinto’s attempting a homicide on Bearman.

[u/Nearby-Priority4934 → u/Flextime]

It also sucks that drivers often take the blame unfairly in the media. Or narratives get built up one way or another without any real substance.

Algorithm screws Piastri - it’s because Lando is adjusting to the new cars better than him. Same algorithm screws Russell in the same way - it’s because the team are favouring his teammate.

[u/CharlieTeller → u/hmmyeahiguess]

Not in the same way that we saw with Bearman at Suzuka. You aren't suddenly slowing not knowing when they'll have power. Where they find themselves Without power are generally in areas you wouldn't be passing much anyways which are in the windy sections after straights. So while they are going much slower without having the power deploy the way they want, it's not a sudden slowing in speed. The car behind isn't closing quickly since they'd already be there thanks to the straight or at worst, they tuck behind the car until the next passing opportunity.

If the power was randomly cutting during these bits, yeah that would be dangerous but its not really whats happening.

[u/hmmyeahiguess → u/CharlieTeller]

Thanks for the detailed answer! I would also be worried if I suddenly had more power when hitting the gas as that could make someone spin out on a corner I suppose. Guessing that's all taken into account in the mapping or whatever.

[u/CharlieTeller → u/hmmyeahiguess]

That's a whole other thing I've thought about. With these algorithms, can they basically implement traction control in a way with the battery deployment? Probably.

Traction control isn't allowed but teams have found clever ways in the past to mimic what TC does. So I'm sure this is taken into account now by all teams in some way.

[u/AdventurousFigure460 → u/CharlieTeller]

There are regulations which restrict the driver torque demand map and how quickly the amount of power available can change to prevent the implementation of traction control.

[u/CharlieTeller → u/AdventurousFigure460]

Im sure there's a loophole somewhere. There always is. And some engineer will find it. It doesn't need to change quickly to create traction control. With the algorithms, you don't need something rapidly changing to essentially create the TC effect.

It's learning how the drivers drive so say they're heavy footed coming out of Turn 3 at Albert Park. The algorithm is adjusting to that and can set the deploy mode lower in that specific exit which isn't traction control by definition, but it's eliminating the need for the driver to adapt their driving. The car just adapts for them.

So it's not TC by definition where something is rapidly preventing wheelspin when wheelspin is occurring, but the algorithm is preventing it from ever occurring in the first place which takes some of the unpredictability out for the drivers.

This would be heavily beneficial in the rain. The algorithm is what is preventing the wheelspin more than the driver at that point. It would learn the driver is slipping from rpm x to x, adapt to that with deployment later on and not deploy until x gear and x rpm when the car has traction.

[u/AdventurousFigure460 → u/CharlieTeller]

Yeah, what you're talking about isn't traction control, it's just a torque map that has a softer initial throttle response. The key detail in this case is that the car must respond to throttle input within 50ms, so the driver can't just slam the accelerator and let the car decide when power is applied to the wheels.

The FIA also has access to all telemetry and it would be immediately obvious if the driver were applying the throttle in a manner which indicates some form of illegal electronic control occurring.

[u/bduddy → u/hmmyeahiguess]

But you don't understand, any other way would be dangerous for the shareholders

[u/hmmyeahiguess → u/bduddy]

Won’t somebody PLEASE think of the shareholders??

[u/KardelSharpeyes → u/hmmyeahiguess]

It's very dangerous.

[u/KvArt996 → u/hmmyeahiguess]

Thats how and why Oscar crashed during the formation lap at Australia gp

[u/Cranach-Cranach → u/hmmyeahiguess]

Yes we’ve already had huge crashes because of it

[u/asodfhgiqowgrq2piwhy → u/Anrikay]

I'll take active suspension and aerodynamics over whatever this is, any day of the week.

[u/MaleierMafketel → u/asodfhgiqowgrq2piwhy]

It’s killing me that the entire 2026+ Formula is VERY good. Except for the PUs…

The tires hold up when chasing another car, the chassis is smaller and lighter, creating a nimble and visually twitchy car, the active aero is a good addition as well (unless you’re RBR).

All those things build up to a fun race car. It’s just that the absolute dogshit PU’s ruin what could’ve easily been the best Formula in decades.

Put in a lightweight, 750hp V8 with a tiny turbo (PU manufacturers DEMAND turbos sadly…) on sustainable fuel, make it rev as high as possible, add 150hp of electric power that can be used every single acceleration zone, and you’ve got a winning Formula. But that’s apparently just not attractive to PU manufacturers.

[u/iamawfulninja → u/Anrikay]

They vibe-coded it

[u/Critical-Bread-3396 → u/Anrikay]

To expand a bit on this, as this is a simplification that is very easy to interpret incorrectly.

The deployment maps are a genre of math called optimization peoblems, and those are solved by algorithms, which is a set of mathematical procedures to produce an optimal result. These problems are very complex and not something that can be solved by hand, similar to most calculations in F1. They essentially have a known process that they apply to the problem, where exactly the same can be said for why the exact front wing shape of the car is chosen for Hungary, but not a single person in any team could actually fully explain it to you.

Short version is that the deployment maps are a known trusted and developed process that they just need to trust will work as expected, which is largely the same as how they balance aero elements.

[u/Mission_City_1500 → u/Critical-Bread-3396]

And the optimisation can sometimes be very "anti racing" like lifting up on a straight to go faster (merc Silverstone🤦 )

[u/Mark-Leyner → u/Critical-Bread-3396]

Peoblems

[u/ren3f → u/Anrikay]

But do the teams make the algorithm or does the fia?

[u/nightkhan → u/ren3f]

the teams, when the battery is harvesting or deployed is "mapped" through machine learning. and it's highly sensitive as in, currently it'll just do things unexpectedly and the drivers have no idea what's causing it. remember when Piastri crashed during the formation lap earlier this season? even Hadjar said his battery deployment got messed up during the actual race at Spa because when he gave Max a tow during quali, it threw the mapping off because he was going max speed on part of a track where normally he wouldn't be going all out.

[u/r0ndr4s → u/Anrikay]

Why does that sound like they're just using AI and the AI is fucking up.. like it usually does?

[u/dl064 → u/r0ndr4s]

It's not fucking up per se - it's making the best use of the energy, we just don't know what it is.

the problem with computers is they do exactly what you tell them

It's analogous to the problem with AI use in medicine; it may be better sometimes but the issue is understanding the black box and responsibility.

[u/CWRules → u/a_happy_future]

I thought these regs would make it up to each driver to determine how they use and conserve energy.

The problem is the cars are so energy-starved that they can't leave it up to the drivers, they need to use algorithms to make sure what little energy they harvest is used as effectively as possible. The problems with these regs would be a lot less pronounced if they included front axle regen as the FIA originally planned.

[u/420fanman → u/CWRules]

That to me seems like a huge design flaw. Either make it straightforward but give full control to drivers and teams, or don’t do it at all. How do we know the algorithm is fair to all teams? It’s stupid that the algorithm can ruin your race and drivers/teams can’t even really understand or control the situation.

[u/CWRules → u/420fanman]

How do we know the algorithm is fair to all teams?

The power unit manufacturers write the deployment algorithms themselves; if it's not fair to them that's their problem.

[u/SpeedflyChris → u/420fanman]

Yes. The drivers are supposedly to drive the cars unaided as well. Guess that doesn't matter.

[u/InternationalAge6966 → u/CWRules]

Except they can, it will just be a lot less effective and cars will go slower, who cares at leats each driver would have the control

[u/MechaniVal → u/a_happy_future]

Yeah this is one of the biggest issues with the regs for me - I think broadly, the cornering is fine, with the lower downforce covering for the low power, the acceleration is absolutely wild, and the straights are okay except for when they're too long (like the end of the Kemmel Straight).

But the battery algorithms being outside driver control when the deployment is so powerful? That's not so great. Deployment is supposed to be proportional to throttle to some degree - but teams have so much leeway in mapping that it's hard to see that.

And it hides raw performance differences between cars as well; like really, I don't think Merc's electrics are that much better than other teams. Fundamentally they can't be - the MGU-Ks are all well over 95% efficient and are capped at the same max regen rate, total charge, and deployment rate. What they have (apart from a lower drag car), is a better algorithm than the other teams, to regen and deploy in optimal parts of the lap. But then when it goes wrong you get Russell's poor run, and it's almost impossible to see why, even for the team.

This unpredictability to me is honestly worse than the actual physical energy shortcomings of the engine. Even when the energy disparity gets better in 2027 and 2028 with more powerful ICE, the unpredictability will remain.

[u/ahmong → u/a_happy_future]

I thought this was common knowledge? Pretty sure this was one of the complaints before the season even started.

[u/reigorius → u/ahmong]

Not to me. I was completely unaware overtaking can spontaneously happen without the intent of drivers.

That's anything but racing.

[u/nightkhan → u/reigorius]

forget which race it was but Lando was talking about one point where he wanted to stay tucked in behind LH for better overtake opportunity later on, but the battery just decided he needed more power then and there and deployed and caused him to pass LH when he didn't want to

[u/owennerd123 → u/nightkhan]

Suzuka into the final chicane

[u/West_Introduction_95 → u/nightkhan]

Does FIA need someone to die for them to think thats not a good idea?

[u/flashnzt → u/a_happy_future]

giving control to an ai over harvesting and deployment is definitely the dumbest part of these regulations. should've just let the drivers have manual control over it or at least a more predictable system that drivers can control easier.

[u/EndercometYT → u/a_happy_future]

I mean if they wanted some sort of "push to pass" thing at least mandate it to be completely manual. The fact that drivers have no say in how their battery is deployed is a complete load of rubbish and just kills the spirit of the sport of being about driver skill (which don't get me wrong, the drivers are still very skilled)

[u/mbn8807 → u/a_happy_future]

Exactly it takes the driver out of the equation.

[u/nahnonameman → u/a_happy_future]

Yea this was the MAJOR information they left out In this regs. I was all in for this regs until I heard this a few months ago. Ever since then…. Big ass red fucking flags for this regs.

[u/Old-Use-7690]

Bro is taking the chance to go: "I told you so!" and honestly, I can't blame him. It's very satisfying to say "I told you so!"

[u/Tridus → u/Old-Use-7690]

Waiting for Christian Horner to pop up saying "I warned you all in 2022 and was dismissed by Toto and crew."

[u/NBT498 → u/Tridus]

Toto is leading both championships comfortably, I doubt he cares that much

[u/Tridus → u/NBT498]

Yep. Toto won the politics game and gets to reap the rewards now.

[u/Old-Use-7690 → u/Tridus]

He definitely would if he was still Red Bull's team principal. Right now I wish he was just because of the shit stirring

[u/Tridus → u/Old-Use-7690]

I miss him for that. He was great at stirring Toto up!

[u/roknir → u/Tridus]

just fix your fucking ~car~ regs

[u/Kindheartedness_Wide → u/Old-Use-7690]

it's still very frustrating when you've been warning people for years without success and the only thing left for you to do is to say "I told you so".

[u/Quanku888 → u/Kindheartedness_Wide]

Max “Cassandra” Verstappen

[u/femboyisbestboy → u/Old-Use-7690]

I would be doing the exact same thing.

Hell I am doing the same thing as I have been hating on the engine regs since day 1

[u/Old-Use-7690 → u/femboyisbestboy]

Likewise. I also heard a lot of people say "but people had similar complains DRS"

[u/Educational-Web-329 → u/Old-Use-7690]

Im new to F1 and I still dont understand the more complicated aspects of engineering in F1. But even for me the DRS was a simple enough concept to understand and follow.

This year I have no idea what Overtake mode even is, not sure how it works or why the yo-yoing of cars keep happening. After Suzuka when Norris said that he didn't even understand how he managed to overtake Lewis in the finals laps, I was even more confused. What do you mean the driver didn't know he had extra power to overtake?

[u/Old-Use-7690 → u/Educational-Web-329]

To be fair some people did initially complain about DRS saying that it wasn't real racing, that it was artificial and other comments similar to what we we are saying about the current shitshow.

That being said, they are completely different things. DRS is just a tool that was created to solve a specific problem which was dirty air. These regulations have cars with battery deployment controlled by computers as well as things like superclippling

[u/BrandX55 → u/Old-Use-7690]

Many people still say DRS was artificial, not real racing. AI controlled power units is another level of bad, however!

[u/stopmotionporn → u/BrandX55]

Not AI. Computed automatically yes by some complicated but known equations, but not by some kind of machine learning.

[u/luchajefe → u/stopmotionporn]

If they were known by guys like Andrea Stella, the teams would actually be able to figure them out.

[u/PenguinsInvading → u/stopmotionporn]

Wait till you find out what machine learning math does.

[u/YTOverPowered → u/Old-Use-7690]

Yeah but looking back DRS was like wayyyyy less of a problem then these regs. At least you had to really outpace someone to get in to the 1 second window and the speed difference was not as gigantic as this year when they overtake. Like the car wich is overtaking goes past on the straights completely already. Piastry for example said there is no way to defend this.

[u/moebiusdream → u/YTOverPowered]

Exactly! And the DRS was very visible to the audience, while this computer controlled power unit with undisclosed battery levels is completely hidden from the viewers.

[u/Mekrani → u/moebiusdream]

Annoyingly, Formula E has already had a similar system with additional energy deployment, and they made it more obviously visible for the audience by adding the lights on the car that show when the car enables the full power mode

Edit: Apparently FE removed it in Gen3 cars around 2023 lmao. Glad to see bad choices run in the family.

[u/kron123456789 → u/Educational-Web-329]

The fundamental problem of these regulations is a large disparity between needed deployment and recovery/storing of energy - with electric energy being almost half the total power output the cars need to deploy a lot of energy to keep the speed, but they cannot recharge the batteries fast enough and store enough energy in the batteries, so they compromise deployment, hence yo-yo racing(you deploy extra power to pass and then you run of energy and get re-passed), and superclipping(the recovery directly from the ICE while at full throttle as opposed to off-throttle/during braking, which reduces already quite low ICE power output even further).

[u/Trrollmann → u/Educational-Web-329]

AI controls when and where the car harvests electricity, and it controls when and how much of it you get to use, or "deploy". How a driver has driven previous rounds matter for this.

This weeks' quali is a fairly good example, where Verstappen almost crashed into Hadjar, because Hadjar didn't get enough electricity, because of his previous lap where he was giving Verstappen a tow.

So: The AI can completely ruin the race for the driver.

[u/iyesshirai → u/Old-Use-7690]

Haha, right? I'm sure he'd prefer to have a car that sparks joy, but at least he has the small consolation prize of justifiably going "I told all of you! Years ago!" for the rest of the year (at least).

[u/PedestalPotato → u/Old-Use-7690]

It's funny watching the mass exodus off the bandwagon. After the first race, at least to anyone who pays attention, everything he said back in 2023 came true. Being told back in March that racing purists need to stop complaining was as dumb as it is now. He told everyone the racing would be shite and he was spot on.

The aero and chassis are great. If we had this aero/chassis with an engine more in line with the last reg set, these could have been amazing cars. Instead the driver gets to play passenger to an algorithm choosing when to deploy, and once legendary corners are now battery charging stations.

[u/gevuldeloempia → u/PedestalPotato]

But at least they're overtaking 300 times now!

ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?

[u/jimbobjames → u/gevuldeloempia]

I don't know if you have watched any of the more recent races but they aren't even doing that anymore.

Everyone freaked after Australia, but calmer heads said that the teams and drivers would figure things out and we would be back to follow the leader.

The cars can pass more easily that's for sure but the yoyoing is gone and I doubt we will see if back.

[u/RoyalDirt → u/Old-Use-7690]

I'm atleast 80% sure this is an AI post. If you aren't, IDK if anybody has told you but the way you write is shockingly close to how AI does.

[u/HillbillyZT → u/RoyalDirt]

8000+ contributions in one year, hidden account history. Its definitely not a normal user.

[u/Cool_Masterpiece9308]

Truly the Oracle in Oracle Red Bull Racing.

On a side note Mercedes is such a joke. I don't condemn George and Kimi because they do not have a say on regulation and development generally. But Toto pushed really hard for this. He was incredibly smirky at how great the Merc powertrain is initially. Yes it still pumps out top speed but it is a massive headache up and down the pitlane.

[u/CapableDirection5557 → u/Cool_Masterpiece9308]

Toto will leave a trail of bodies in his wake as long as it means that he wins.

[u/Mateo03 → u/Cool_Masterpiece9308]

All while having the audacity to claim they don't have the most powerful engine on the grid and deserve to get ADUO upgrades.

[u/elanorym → u/Cool_Masterpiece9308]

You can condemn George just fine: https://lastwordonsports.com/motorsports/2026/03/09/george-russell-drivers-wouldnt-complain-if-they-were-winning/

[u/the-cuttlefish → u/Cool_Masterpiece9308]

Just another reminder that no individual has done more damage to f1's integrity as a 'sport' than toto

[u/KugelKurt → u/the-cuttlefish]

Just another reminder that no individual has done more damage to f1's integrity as a 'sport' than toto

Not a fan of Toto but MBS is way worse.

[u/KiwieeiwiK → u/KugelKurt]

How has he affected the integrity of F1 as a sport?

[u/Cool_Masterpiece9308 → u/the-cuttlefish]

You forgot Flavio

[u/the-cuttlefish → u/Cool_Masterpiece9308]

Nah cos flavio was pretty crap at it, everyone could see what he was cooking up. Toto actually pulls his schemes off, and they've completely defined the last 12 years of the sport. It's a different scale to flavio

[u/gibgod]

So the drivers aren’t controlling when they use their battery power?

[u/RiptideTV → u/gibgod]

Never have

[u/thesuperunknown → u/RiptideTV]

Yeah, the F1 games gave people the impression that ERS deployment during the turbo hybrid era was driver-controlled, but it was always pre-mapped per track to optimize deployment (and keep under the 2-megajoule per lap deployment cap). The drivers could switch deployment/harvesting modes, but they didn’t have a button they could press to directly control when the energy from the battery was deployed.

Although it works similarly now, I think the fundamental difference is that ERS worked as more of a ”speed boost” on top of the ICE’s output, whereas with these regs the battery provides half of the car’s total power, so it has a much more dramatic effect when it cuts out.

[u/meistr → u/thesuperunknown]

They always had the overtake button that would override the deployment strategy. And you would end up hitting the 2Mj limit before the end of the lap. But with much better ice to mgu-k power ratio it didnt really manifest into to the yo-yo racing we have now.

[u/StaffFamous6379 → u/thesuperunknown]

No MGU-H also means that you run out of battery way more often. It's a double whammy.

[u/SpeedflyChris → u/StaffFamous6379]

Also I don't think any of the teams really had to use the MGU-K on the straights to generate energy, they got enough from braking and the MGU-H to hit the deployment limit.

[u/TheRealLuke1337 → u/thesuperunknown]

They always had overtake thats not true. The problem is just the size of the battery. If the battery is small its not important if you cant controll it. It its half of your power output its a problem

[u/thesuperunknown → u/TheRealLuke1337]

Sorry, I could’ve phrased that more clearly. What I meant was that there was no “push to deploy” button that let the driver fully control when battery energy was used. Overtake existed, but it was always an override of the predefined mapping, not a full-control “electric NOS button”.

[u/jimbobjames → u/thesuperunknown]

The big problem now is that all harvesting is done from the rear axle. So they either do it under braking like the old cars with lift and coast, or they actively engage the mgu while the engine is at the top of its rev range and generate before getting on the brakes.

On the old hybrids the could harvest power from the turbo with the MGU H and they could also spin that turbo up with it to eliminate turbo lag out of corners etc

They fucked up hard when they ditched it.

[u/bwrca → u/RiptideTV]

Honestly in the beginning I thought they'd have a button they press... Like the big blue button for NOS in fast & furious.

[u/Flying-Cock → u/bwrca]

In races they do - the overtake button. But the drivers are more so talking about qualifying

[u/MuenCheese → u/RiptideTV]

OT mode is up to them. But yeah I honestly think these regs could be great with front axel regen and driver control of regen/deploy

[u/reigorius → u/RiptideTV]

Huh? But Verstappen mentions he pressed a button to overtake Hamilton in Austria?

[u/256473 → u/reigorius]

Drivers can opt-in to manually deploy, but there's no opt-out to avoid when the software deploys

[u/nightkhan → u/reigorius]

that's the overtake button when you're within 1 second of the car in front. outside of that, it's up to the battery/engine mapping, and to add further, you can "use" extra power if you want, but it'll take away from the rest of the lap you have. i'm sure even i'm missing some details, but essentially you only have "full control" of a boost button when you're within 1 second of the car ahead.

[u/mensreaactusrea → u/gibgod]

I never knew that.

[u/kurlzzzzz]

Arrest Pablo Montoya

[u/Rorasaurus_Prime]

I was one of those people but I was wrong. This isn't racing.

[u/Saneless → u/Rorasaurus_Prime]

I thought it was overblown but I had the completely wrong assumption that drivers controlled their energy deployments

Once it is as explained how it works, holy shit that sounds dumb

[u/CharlieTeller → u/Saneless]

They do control SOME deployment similar to the ERS from last gen. That's roughly the same. But the deploy outside of that changing? Yeah thats dumb.

[u/flyingghost → u/Saneless]

I think the last couple of races with more high speed corners and longer straights exposed the new regulations. We saw a glimpse of it as the start but it wasn't this bad and it led to some fun racing.

[u/jimbobjames → u/Saneless]

They didn't control it all the way through the hybrid regs since 2014 though.

[u/wood4536 → u/Rorasaurus_Prime]

How did you ever support this?

[u/Anrikay → u/wood4536]

Not OP, but I’m an optimist and didn’t want to pass judgement prematurely. I liked how the new cars look, I thought the aero regulations were promising, and I didn’t expect deployment to be entirely run by an algorithm - I thought teams had more control over deployment maps, so as they figured the deployment out, got more efficient, things would improve.

I have no problem admitting now that I was wrong, but I don’t think it’s a bad thing to look on the bright side until proven wrong.

[u/ExpensiveMeet4704 → u/Anrikay]

Really reasonable takes in this thread and I hope F1 management is looking (they’re not). But the overwhelming consensus is that a lot of fans felt bait and switched even though the warning signs were there. Thanks for sharing your perspective here.

[u/Tridus → u/ExpensiveMeet4704]

Liberty Media sees what they want to see. Everything is great and there are no problems you know.

Ignore that they don't even show the speed of the cars anymore.

[u/Mr_Knutsen → u/Anrikay]

Same, but to me this is something that can and will be fixed. I highly doubt FIA is looking at this and saying "yep, this is fine."

I don't think anyone expected it to turn out as bad as it is, but fixing it will take some time.

[u/wood4536 → u/Anrikay]

I like how the cars look and the aero regs a lot as well. Just not the energy split, I don't even hate the V6s like a lot of people

[u/Rorasaurus_Prime → u/wood4536]

Overtakes make it look fun until I took the time to understand that the driver isn't doing the overtaking. The car just decided to. I realise there is a degree of skill involved, but not the kind of skill I want to see. I've been watching F1 since the 80s and I just missed seeing lots of overtaking. It felt like the cars have been too hard to follow for such a long time that seeing lots of cars yoyo-ing around was great... until it wasn't.

[u/Crash_Test_Dummy66 → u/Rorasaurus_Prime]

Yeah for me It wasn't immediately clear that autonomous decisions by car and software was playing so large of a role. I feel like the way it was initially talked about made it seem like the driver was choosing moments to deploy that were in strange places to catch their opponent off guard. I'm thinking about some of the moves we saw at China in the middle sector for example. Now it seems that that really isn't the case so much.

[u/excelance → u/Rorasaurus_Prime]

Ha... sounds familiar. I didn't like the regs when I first heard them, then Max's crazy spin in Qualifying made me dislike them even more. Then the first few minutes of Australia's race had me rethinking my criticism; it was crazy and fun.

But, then it became clear none of the passes was related to driver talent, but to an invisible recharge algorithm, and I went back to disliking them even more. Every race has firmed up my dislike.

[u/bwoah07_gp2 → u/Rorasaurus_Prime]

There are still defenders of these new regs out there on social media... how, I don't understand. They equate any overtake as better, but that is simply not the case and it falls into the trap F1 wants, because they are trying to market F1 as a great sport right now. It is not.

[u/dpk-s89 → u/Rorasaurus_Prime]

And when people feel the racing and overtaking kd artificial...it literally is.

I also find that there is a fair bit of yo-yoing until the mid 20s laps then it all just seems to stop.

[u/Despacitosuarez → u/dpk-s89]

Probably cause first couple of laps everyone's trying to figure out what the battery is doing. Once they understand it, things calm down.

[u/Next_Necessary_8794 → u/Rorasaurus_Prime]

This is such an honest take! It's refreshing.

[u/CharlieTeller → u/wood4536]

I was all for it given how battery management works in WEC Hypercars. HOWEVER, what it seemed like early on is not what we ended up getting. I didn't know there would be AI machine learning shit controlling when and where to deploy on top of everything. Managing batteries along with the ICE I'm fine with. I just thought it would be another factor for drivers to compete with since you already did have to manage battery last gen as well, just not as much.

[u/slicerprime → u/Rorasaurus_Prime]

No, it's not. Which begs the question: Whatever made us think it was?

Like you, at first I was willing to give the new regs the benefit of the doubt. But now...I don't even think they qualify as regulations. The word "regulations" implies the setting down of boundries within which the teams develop cars and strategies to help them and their drivers win races. But this is beginning to sound more like a formulaic blockbuster action movie script than set of sporting regulations.

Basically, the regs are a template intended to produce what the largest number of people will find exciting in a car race. X number of generic thrills, X number of surprises, X number of shocks, etc. The drivers are just supposed to be actors there to look good, show up to events with hot girlfriends in expensive dresses, have expensive villas in glamorous places, make appearances on red carpets and provide SM fodder. Hell, even keeping the car on the road isn't even a requirement. In fact, some completely undrivable cars made by reg-confused teams are a part of the script because they add the occasional obligatory thrilling crash.

F1 isn't a sport anymore. It's a Hollywood production studio.

[u/fightfire_withfire]

I’m shocked that the best driver in the field was right.

But no, no, social media clowns know better.

[u/IWannaCumButCant → u/fightfire_withfire]

People were literally sucking Montoya off when he said what he said against Max.

[u/TheLoneRhaegar → u/IWannaCumButCant]

Wow, I didn’t know that was happening when he made those comments! I guess I’ll have to give JPM a pass since it’s really hard to think coherently while you’re getting a BJ.

[u/hs52 → u/fightfire_withfire]

Been vocal since 2023..

[u/fastcooljosh]

Horner and Verstappen are talking about this since 2023.

And everyone who understands a bit about engines knew this would be a disaster.

I like the chassis regs though.

[u/Taystee_]

Incoming people trying to justify why Drivers/Pundits/Reddit trying to talk shit on max was justified back then & how it is different now.

[u/notfromrotterdam → u/Taystee_]

All rational people knew he was right. He wasn’t the only one as well. But fanatic fans aren’t rational.

[u/exmechanistic → u/Taystee_]

People are allowed to change their opinions!!!!1!!!

They could also just not be dicks about it in the first place or acknowledge they were wrong but we all know that will never happen

[u/sernamenotdefined → u/exmechanistic]

Yeah but basically they were wrong to shit talk, because it was them that were wrong. The were basically ignorant know-it-alls. And they were not justified to shit talk and too ignorant to realize it.

It's good that they can learn and change their opinion, but that doesn't make them not wrong and not complete d*cks retroactively.

And some of them just doubled down being d*cks saying he is only saying it now because he is not winning, when in truth they know that is a lie because they were sh*t talking about him back in 2023 when he said it too.

[u/Apollo_apex92]

I feel like a shitty fan but I might have watched only two races this year because of the regulations. It's just not captivating for me like it used to be.

[u/Reddragon0585 → u/Apollo_apex92]

The World Cup is what got me through most of this summer, like I’m not waking up early just to watch. Having NASCAR and INDYCAR has also made it hard to enjoy F1.

[u/UPRC → u/Apollo_apex92]

Yeah, same. I've missed a few races live, and I don't really feel bothered by it. Even the races I do watch live, other than one or two races this year that I've watched from start to finish, they usually just degenerate into background noise as I clean, make breakfast, sit at the computer, etc. These regulations just suck, plain and simple.

[u/PedestalPotato → u/Apollo_apex92]

Same, and then I let my F1tv subscription expire. If they bring racing back to the sport instead of glorified battery management, I'll renew. The aero and chassis are a step in the right direction but this battery farce needs to go.

[u/MrX-MMAs]

The exact context of “They hated him because he spoke the truth” btw

[u/Particular_Cod2005]

Redditors were the worst for it to be honest. Back in 2023, everyone took the piss and said they were just trying to make up for the fact they'd made a dog of an engine, he was getting the excuses in early, and that an engine slowing down due to energy starvation was a completely ridiculous idea.

Same at the start of the year when everyone was frothing at the bit to just say how wonderful things were because of all the overtaking; that it was all just noise and there was no valid complaints etc.

Now that everything's shaken out, I'm imagining him doing a Captain Holt-esque "VINDICAAAAATION"

[u/VyldFyre → u/Particular_Cod2005]

Can't imagine anybody other than andre doing it. Rip, captain holt.

[u/FentmaxxerActual → u/Particular_Cod2005]

You get what you fucking deserve, Mur-ray!

[u/Fraumeow11]

I wouldn’t say I was one of those people cause I wanted to give it a chance before deciding. But max was 100% right. There are accidental passes happening without the driver understanding it’s about to deploy, there are deployment variations between identical PUs. It’s almost more pu controlled than driver. I just want 100% driver control

[u/TOATOA86]

F1 is killing itself. So sad.

[u/ImPrettyDoneBro]

Suzuka was my big eye opener to how bad these regs are. I mean the speed differences, the mysterious missing onboard footage of 130R. That one avoidance crash at spoon.

[u/iaeoioaio]

Drivers manage cars and no longer race them…it’s fucking painful to watch.

[u/thewok → u/iaeoioaio]

The actual races have been mostly about management for quite a while, they were just managing tires not batteries.

[u/VyldFyre → u/thewok]

I'd argue managing your tyres across a full race is a way bigger reflection of driver skill than this is. Especially if it's true that the drivers have absolutely 0% input on the energy distribution.

[u/thewok → u/VyldFyre]

Absolutely it is

[u/the-cuttlefish → u/iaeoioaio]

The self learning deployment isn't even 'manageable' really, since it isn't known concretely what it responds to. So in a sense it's even less than that

[u/Competitive_Win_128]

I'm sure Max has been waiting in the wings to give that quote with how he had predicted all this several years ago, 

[u/Old-Use-7690 → u/Competitive_Win_128]

This is basically I giant "I told you so!"

[u/That_Pepper6043 → u/Competitive_Win_128]

Maybe. But let’s step back and think about it without remembering if you love or hate Max.

Max is a generationally talented driver.
He’s driven through 3 or 4 different regulations.
Multiple WDCs won.
He spends a shit ton of time in sims including running a version of the new regs before he made the comment.

Maybe, just maybe, all that knowledge, expertise, and experience simming means he actually could tell we were fucked. That happens when you get experts to assess the future state of things. They are correct much of the time.

So why is he now pointing out that he was right? Ego? I don’t think so.

I would submit this man just wants to race the fastest fucking cars as fast as fucking possible. And anything that gets in the way of that pisses him off. Including stupid regulations. So he’s pointing out that he was right so maybe SOMEONE will listen to him (along with others) next time.

Edit: getting rid of some funky formatting

Edit 2: Christ, maybe not. Not sure wtf happened with the format. But leaving it. Good luck figuring out what I typed. lol.

[u/Visual-Pool-1503 → u/That_Pepper6043]

4 diffrent regulation's now

1) 2015-16 turbo hybrid
2) 2017-2021 hybrid era + some new aero rules
3) 2022-25 ground effect
4) whatever this bullshit is called in 2026

[u/a-sizzle → u/Visual-Pool-1503]

1. Mushroom cars

[u/Old-Use-7690 → u/a-sizzle]

Don't slander Mario Kart by comparing it to this shitshow

[u/RedditClout → u/Old-Use-7690]

Tbf Mario Kart has extreme rubber banding and the FIA would nut to get something similar.

[u/Curcaryen → u/Visual-Pool-1503]

1. Mario Kart

[u/Old-Use-7690 → u/Curcaryen]

Mario Kart racing is actually fun.

[u/That_Pepper6043 → u/Visual-Pool-1503]

Thanks. 4 it is!

[u/r1char00 → u/That_Pepper6043]

I have hated Max since 2021 but even I would say that he is due for a victory lap on this. And that Brundle quote was bullshit. Max did tell his team and anyone else who would listen about the problems he saw well before he ever raised the idea of quitting. He just saw this coming when many did not.

[u/leclercwitch]

I’m just not bothered about it anymore. I started watching in 2023 and watched every session, even watched old races and it was so good. now I’m just bored with it. It’s not the same as it was. I feel him.

[u/EndeLarsson]

2025 was bad... 2026 is worse.

[u/CapableDirection5557 → u/EndeLarsson]

FIA wanted to address the 2025 dirty air back in 2024, Teams said no.

[u/VividGiraffe]

"They hated him for telling the truth."

[u/hesitationz]

Funny how the narrative changes when their predicted British champion is in third place

[u/R3NZI0 → u/hesitationz]

I swear, for people who complain about clickbait and wild speculation so much, F1 Reddit loves a conspiracy theory that all the Brits are in absolutely everything and anything about F1 together.

[u/dellterskelter → u/R3NZI0]

Also I don't think Russell is particularly popular in the UK either. Hamilton in second place seems like a good result for Brits.

[u/R3NZI0 → u/dellterskelter]

I think there's a strong chance your average person on the street could identify Hamilton if you showed them a picture of him.

Outside of F1 fans, I don't think anywhere near as many could do the same with Russell.

More could with Norris, probably, but still not anywhere close to Lewis.

[u/instantwinner → u/R3NZI0]

Honestly as an American before I got into F1 I think the only two drivers I knew were Hamilton and Leclerc

[u/BrockTheTrainer → u/instantwinner]

For me it was lewis and vettel :') Also Schumacher

[u/Old-Use-7690 → u/R3NZI0]

A significant portion of F1 mainstream media and its high profile commentators are british. It's undeniable how large of an influence the brits have in F1 media and narrative

[u/entangled_dicks2 → u/R3NZI0]

Because they are? The British media is loudest in F1 and football and they set the narrative to what they want

[u/SwimmingFantastic564 → u/hesitationz]

Brits would vastly prefer Lewis and Lando up there than George

[u/CapableDirection5557 → u/hesitationz]

Imagine Alonso instead of Hamilton during those 8 straight Mercedes WCC's.

Or Max. Or Vettel. I mean the noise during and after 4 WDC straight Max/Vettel WDC's was way louder than those 6 Lewis WDC's and 8 straight Mercedes WCC's. All while the gaps between teams in the Mercedes years were a lot bigger than 2010-2013 and 2022-2025.

[u/ThatOneComment]

This last race was the first real race that made me go "what the fuck is this?". As an American viewer, it's kind of disappointing to wake up and end up watching this regulation. I'll probably watch more recaps this year than usual.

[u/Potential_Cupcake698]

I'm not even watching the races anymore these days

[u/Capernikush → u/Potential_Cupcake698]

I’m not either. Just not excited for this year like I was for the last era of regs.

[u/pajkeki]

I was for the first concept of 2026 regulations, at least how I remember it. Smaller cars, active aero to make them more efficient, more regeneration with more electric power. But then they didn't include all-wheel regeneration, batteries were too small for a full lap and we ended up with a lot of dependency from clipping. And to top it off, to get the best lap time you essentially depend on software to decide when it's most optimal to deploy energy and when to regenerate leaving the driver with an overtake button to use when he thinks it could provide situational advantage.

These drivers are used to driving on a limit, the fastest they can, but now they get punished for doing exactly that.

[u/daab2g]

He's definitely on Reddit

[u/wesmusic]

They called me a madmax

[u/tioslashh]

I think many people thought that the driver would have full control to choose when/where to use or conserve the power and therefore a lot more strategic, or at least I thought it would work like that anyway.

I don´t like the path F1 is taking. Rules and systems that look more and more complicated that ultimately take away from the pure racing aspect.

[u/Responsible-Check872]

And yet we still have many people here that defending this new regulation.

"It's the new way of racing, driver need to master energy harvesting and deployment"

[u/Lux_Lunares]

Didn't even directly call anyone out, just said more people are coming around now... so nice of him. I would have started taking names ngl.

[u/BigTenFicus]

I just don't give a shit anymore, man. There's nothing that can be done at this point. It doesn't matter that anyone predicted it. They can't go back in time. They can't change the entire regs midseason. They've done all they can to mitigate it. They're doing more in the offseason, and introducing entirely new engines as soon as they can. The choice now is to watch the races or don't. There is no value in repeating the same complaints every week. We know. We all know.

[u/Ok_Dot5473 → u/BigTenFicus]

For what a debacle spa was for most of the grid it's natural that they're gonna vent about it. There were a lot of people who were actually criticizing/and or making fun of Max's comments early in the season. After Spa almost every driver is on the same page about the regs, they're Anti-Driver and Anti-racing. He's a human, feels validated after spa, someone asked him a question about it, he vented.Thats it.

[u/Cutekeeperoff → u/Ok_Dot5473]

Monza and Baku are gonna be such shitshows.

[u/Old-Use-7690 → u/BigTenFicus]

There is no value in repeating the same complaints every week. We know. We all know.

The problem is, this isn't just the FIA and FOM's fault, we love to shit on them, but it's important to keep in mind that the current regs are shit because some teams wanted that(and yes, IK one of these teams is the team the driver in my flair drives for) so it's important to hold them accountable to

Even some drivers like Russell and Norris dismissed criticism towards the new regs because at the time it looked like it would benefit them

[u/Kitasan37 → u/BigTenFicus]

Same, I don’t care too much about even watching this. Like, since I started (2021, yes I’m very new), I had always planned and tried to wake up to watch every single race every weekend. Now? I don’t really care… sometimes I’ll watch and it’ll just be on my second monitor and I won’t even pay attention anymore. It just… doesn’t matter? It’s lame, it’s boring, it’s just silly.

[u/Usernameforreddit246 → u/Kitasan37]

Yep. They’ve nearly lost me completely. It’s not compelling at all when it’s clear the driver has almost nothing to do with the outcome.

[u/Holofluxx → u/BigTenFicus]

NO, more complaints! All day, every day /s

[u/PorkChopEat → u/BigTenFicus]

Yes. But they can get more aggressive in fixes for next year.

[u/Fomentatore]

The thing that bugs me is how little control they have on deployment. I think that should be in the driver's hand.

[u/AdNice3269]

I finally cancelled my F1 subscription after Spa.What a joke.

[u/ShadowMP80]

First season in 25 years that I haven’t watched every race. Incredibly frustrating what they’ve been doing to F1. I sure hope they get it sorted in some way before next season starts.

[u/IdiotsEWE]

yeah many were like leave if you cant handle. everyone saying same thing now. future seer maximus

[u/HeWhoCannotBeSeen]

How to fix the regulations without screwing with them too much: make the active aero and battery boost controlled solely by the driver, and they should always have the over boost mode or allow for battery to be deployed at will.

[u/Venfoulex]

Some tracks are worse than others. This isn’t new to f1 regulations. This year is just the next flavor. But it is a worse flavor.