Formula E champion Lucas di Grassi hits back at Verstappen over F1 2026 engines
Race starts in F1 2026 are expected to be far more tricky and inconsistent, a potential safety matter.
Formula 1’s new engine rules have been branded “extremely badly designed” — and not what the sport should be.
That’s the opinion of two Formula E stars, Lucas di Grassi and Dan Ticktum, as Formula 1’s new-look cars with their 2026-spec power units hit the track for the first official pre-season test in Bahrain.
Lucas Di Grassi brands F1 2026 hybrid rules ‘extremely badly designed’
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This season, Formula 1 has ushered in a new era, with new chassis and power units on the grid.
The latter is proving to be the hot topic of the pre-season as the new engines run on a 50/50 split between electrical and combustion power.
Slower in the corners, quicker in acceleration and heavily reliant on energy management and harvesting, the new cars have already drawn criticism from four-time World Champion Max Verstappen has made it clear that he is not a fan.
Billing it as “management”, he told PlanetF1.com and other media in Bahrain: “The feeling is not very F1-like. It feels a bit more like Formula E on steroids…
“As a pure driver, I enjoy driving flat out, and, at the moment, you cannot drive like that.”
Even race starts and revs are emerging as an issue in the build-up to the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in three weeks.
A key change to the engines has been the removal of the MGU-H, which means drivers take longer to get their cars into the ideal launch window.
The MGU-H helped cover up the turbo lag across the lower rev range, and without it, the cars are taking longer to prepare for launch than they did in the MGU-H era.
It’s an issue that is hampering some teams at launch and could see the F1 Commission vote on a start procedure change in the upcoming meeting.
More on F1 2026 race start concerns
Safety concerns trigger calls for urgent change to F1 2026 race starts
Why Max Verstappen’s criticisms of energy-starved F1 is premature
But according to former F1 driver di Grassi, the FIA has only itself to blame as it “decided” on the rules for the new power units.
And he has nothing complimentary to say about those rules.
“The hybrid rules of F1 are extremely badly designed,” di Grassi told Motorsport.com.
“It’s not only the fault of the hybrid system. It’s the rules which are decided by the FIA, and some people within the FIA who decided the rules [who are at fault].
“I don’t know the logic behind those rules, but there are very weird rules. And for F1, which makes the car very slow and sometimes not very efficient or not very raceable, which [is why] the drivers are complaining.”
His fellow Formula E driver Ticktum, who tried to break into Formula 1, went as far as to question whether these engine rules are what this “sport” is about.
“If I’m being brutally honest, I think F1 – it should be a sport,” he put to Motorsport Week. “So what do people want to see from a sport? What do petrolheads want to see?
“They want to see a massive, great V12 screaming, and maybe not so much downforce, but massive cars that are a bit more difficult to drive.
“I don’t know what people want to see, but I’d say largely that. So when you’re in this middle ground, I don’t feel like you please anyone, really.”
Di Grassi reckons the way Formula 1 is going, the Formula E machine will be the race car to beat in the years to come.
“My point is that Formula E will be the fastest cars in the world in a couple of years,” he said. “It depends on us to come up with a good improvement for Gen 4.5 and Gen 5. We have the potential.
“So what happens when Formula E is way faster than F1? Will the best drivers in the world drive Formula E?
“Will people consider Formula E drivers are now finally better than Formula 1 drivers because the car is faster? Or Formula 1 drivers will come here to drive these cars also? Maybe they do two programmes. Formula E becomes a winter series. Formula 1 becomes a summer series, and you can do maybe both. I don’t know.
“Naturally, that’s how it’s going to go. If there will be a political force bearing this, then I don’t know. But naturally, the Formula E car will be way faster than F1.
“I would say at Monaco, maybe not this year, not the Gen 4, but one or two years after Gen 4 [into the next cycle], maybe [Formula E cars will be] two-three-four-five seconds faster than F1. Four-by-four, traction control, it’s going to be good.”
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