After pre-season testing in Bahrain gave F1’s drivers their first real taste of the sport’s radically overhauled machinery, Max Verstappen restated his early verdict on Grand Prix racing’s new era – and once again it’s anything but glowing.
Formula 1’s new regulations mark a decisive shift away from the ground-effect philosophy that defined recent seasons. Downforce has been trimmed back, tyres reworked, and the spotlight shifted heavily onto electrical energy deployment.
Efficiency, not raw instinct, is the buzzword. And for Verstappen, that’s precisely the problem.
Speaking last week in Bahrain on the Up To Speed podcast with David Coulthard and Naomi Schiff, the Dutchman laid out just how alien the experience feels.
“The car has less grip. It accelerates a lot faster out of the corner,” he said. “Also, the whole layout of the car is completely different.
“The tyres are different, so the way you have to drive it around the corner is very different, because the grip is also generated a little bit differently, less through the floor.
“You are sliding around probably a little bit more, and then you have more power coming out of the corner. So with less grip, that’s a bit harder to manage.”
That final word – manage – would become a recurring theme in Verstappen’s narrative.
From Muscle Memory to Mental Gymnastics
For years, pre-season testing followed a familiar script for seasoned drivers: jump in, let muscle memory take over, and refine an already familiar style. Not anymore.
According to Verstappen, 2026 demands something closer to a complete factory reset.
“And of course, it depends also a bit what kind of corner you’re coming out of. So the lower speed corners, you’re just waiting a longer period of time to go full throttle,” explained the four-time world champion.
©RedBull
“It is actually a bit of a change, I would say, to over the last few years, where you would jump back in the car in pre-season, and it’s like muscle memory, and it’s just a better car normally than the year before, and immediately you’re back into things, and it’s actually a very long day of just going through test items.
“But now, you definitely need to rethink your driving and approach a little bit as well.”
This isn’t evolution – it’s upheaval. And for a driver who has built a career on razor-sharp instinct and aggressive precision, the new cars feel less like predators and more like puzzles.
At the start of pre-season testing, Verstappen previously likened the experience to “Formula E on steroids,” a pointed nod to the heavier emphasis on battery deployment and lift-and-coast tactics.
Energy harvesting and release are no longer subtle tools; they are central characters in the drama.
‘Least Favourite’ Formula 1 Era
When asked where the new rules sit among the eras he has raced through since debuting in 2015, Verstappen didn’t hesitate.
“Probably I would say least favourite,” he confirmed. “But that is because I think the word that you can use for the whole year will be management. I think that’s the right word.”
Management of tyres. Management of battery. Management of throttle application. In other words, management of restraint.
For purists – and Verstappen has never hidden his preference for raw, high-grip machinery – that signals a philosophical shift away from what many consider “pure” Formula 1.
©RedBull
Yet amid the criticism, there’s a twist.
The 2026 campaign marks a landmark moment for Red Bull Racing, with its first in-house power unit developed alongside Ford Motor Company making its competitive debut.
The new Red Bull Powertrains operation has, by early indications, delivered solid reliability straight out of the gate.
And Verstappen is quick to separate his feelings about the regulations from his admiration for the people behind the project.
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“I mean, at the end of the day, when you go into competition, you will always do the best you can with what you have, because it’s the same for everyone,” he said.
“But, sometimes things can be more enjoyable than others, and for me personally, it’s not so enjoyable.
“But I do know, of course, that when I sit in the car, I will always give it my best, because also the people that have designed the car and the engine this year, it’s been honestly incredible to witness how these guys have started from zero and have given us a power unit that is running well. We don’t have any issues.
“Is it fast enough? I have no idea. We have to wait and see.”
©RedBull
There is unmistakable pride in what Red Bull has built from scratch. But pride does not equal pleasure.
“Honestly, it’s just incredible to work with all these great people. And for me to then say that it’s the least enjoyable, is not very nicen” he concluded. “But, I also want to say that I know that when I sit in the car, of course, I will always give it my very best.
“But, yeah, it’s just not really enjoyable. I mean, it’s not pure Formula 1.”
And that last line may linger longer than any lap time from winter testing.
Because when the sport’s most dominant driver calls its newest chapter “not pure,” it raises a provocative question: has Formula 1 engineered progress – or engineered the soul out of its own spectacle?
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