Max Verstappen continues his battle against the 2026 F1 regulations. According to the four-time world champion, it is already too late to make meaningful changes, even though the season has only just begun.
The relationship between Max Verstappen and the 2026 technical and sporting regulations has never been smooth. In fact, it could be described more accurately as a “long-standing, one-sided dislike shared with the world” that has persisted for several months.
The Dutch four-time Formula 1 world champion has never hidden his doubts about various aspects of the current regulations, especially after completing the first kilometers on track during the Barcelona Shakedown and the two pre-season tests in Sakhir, Bahrain.
During Thursday interviews in Australia, just hours before the 2026 F1 season began, Carlos Sainz tried to calm tensions surrounding the new regulations. “I think evaluating and trying to predict how things will look on TV before they happen doesn’t make much sense,” he said.
“Let’s see: whatever regulations we put together for this year, let’s get them on track and then evaluate. The only thing I told Stefano [Domenicali, F1 CEO] and the FIA is that we need to keep an open mind if the first race — or the first two or three — show anything, because China will be different and Japan will be different again.”
“We can maybe give two or three examples, and if clearly something doesn’t work, something is wrong, I hope we’ll be able to change it.”
However, Verstappen does not share the same optimism as his former Toro Rosso teammate. He believes it is already too late to introduce changes that could improve the situation, even if implemented mid-season.
“We’re a bit late to change the regulations,” said the Red Bull driver. “The amount of money invested in these new rules means they’re going to stay in place for quite a while. It was predictable this would happen. That these issues are being raised now is a bit late.”
One potential adjustment that has been suggested involves increasing the “super clipping” — when cars recover energy even at full throttle — from 250 kW to 350 kW. This would reduce the need for drivers to perform too many “unnatural” energy management actions, like lifting off the throttle and coasting.
Still, Verstappen remains unconvinced that this would truly improve the regulations, as track characteristics will have a greater influence this year. On some circuits, recovering energy will be easier than on others.
“I don’t know,” the Dutchman said. “It also depends a lot on the track layout. You can reduce power, but obviously you go slower in lap times too.”
“So I’m not sure. It’s a difficult topic to say: this is the best solution with what we have right now. I imagine that’s why they want to see how it goes here first, but it’s all quite complicated.”
As Max Verstappen voices his frustrations ahead of the 2026 Australian GP, his comments highlight a growing divide between those calling for patience and those who believe the sport’s new direction was flawed from the start. Whether the FIA will heed his warnings or follow Carlos Sainz’s call for a multi-race evaluation remains to be seen, but the technical complexity of this new era ensures that the debate is far from over.
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