Carlos Sainz has been particularly critical of the F1 regulations after the Belgian GP. The Spaniard states that the current regulations fall short, especially on circuits like Spa-Francorchamps and Silverstone, where energy management once again caused distressing situations. Due to the combination of fast corners and long straights, the cars regularly ran out of electric power, resulting in significant speed losses.
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Because of the many fast corners and long straights, the drivers at Spa barely had the chance to sufficiently recharge their batteries. As a result, they lost a lot of power and drove significantly slower on certain parts of the circuit than necessary. This became painfully clear at Blanchimont: there, the cars lost up to 50 km/h in speed. Speeds were also up to 40 km/h lower than in previous years at Pouhon. “You can just go full throttle through there now,” said a disappointed Lando Norris after qualifying.
‘Should never have happened’
In his response, Sainz did not spare the architects of the current regulations, although he wanted to avoid unnecessarily criticizing the sport. “I think no one really enjoys qualifying now,” he said. “It’s clear that we have lost quite a bit of ground with these cars at Spa. But I don’t want to keep belittling my own sport, because that doesn’t help. We all know this is not good enough; that needs to change. As it stands now, these regulations are being further developed. Hopefully, next year will be a step better and the year after that another step better.”
The Williams driver also questioned the creation of the regulations. “What I want to raise is: how did everyone who saw the simulations in 2022 and 2023 approve this? There needs to be a look at what happened there, because this should never have happened.” However, Sainz realizes he must accept the current situation. “We still have some exciting races ahead and the sport keeps growing, so we just have to move on.”
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Warning from Max Verstappen
Lewis Hamilton agreed with Sainz’s criticism. The Ferrari driver emphasized that the problems were visible early on, in his opinion. “It’s just not good on the straights, but the cars are great in the corners. Only on the straights does it not feel good,” he explained. “I know this was immediately visible in the simulations. I don’t know who gave the green light afterwards, but that person probably still has their job,” Hamilton concluded critically.
Max Verstappen already raised the alarm in 2023 when asked about the regulations for the current season. The Red Bull driver warned at the time that Formula 1 would be going down the wrong path by focusing more on electrification and energy management. According to him, that course would come at the expense of the essence of the sport.
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