Drivers deliver their verdict on F1 2026 rule changes

The F1 drivers have delivered their verdict on rule changes ahead of this weekend’s Miami Grand Prix.

Most of the 22 race drivers voiced an opinion after changes were made to energy harvesting and deployment with a view to improving the spectacle and driver safety.

F1 drivers react to Miami GP rule tweaks

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That includes reduced battery capacity during qualifying, the byproduct of which should allow drivers to attack the lap in a more traditional sense.

Boost Mode has also been adjusted in an attempt to reduce the potential for large speed differences between cars in combat.

Lando Norris

They move things in the right direction, especially for qualifying. The race really isn’t going to be that different. So some things are not going to change that much, and the quali should be a bit more  flat-out qualifying-style laps, which is a nice thing. It’s what  we wanted as drivers, so I think we have to be happy with them, with the amount of changes that they’ve done. But yes, we will want more, but that’s something we have to be patient for.

Oscar Piastri

They’re a step in the right direction. How far they go to helping the problems, you’re never going to fix the problems without changing the hardware of the power units. But I think it’s a step in the right direction. How much it helps? We’ll have to wait and see. But certainly, some of the tweaks are a good step forward.

George Russell

I think the changes are good, and the main goal being to remove the large closing speeds like we saw with Franco [Colapinto] and [Oliver] Bearman. And I think with these new rules, that incident wouldn’t have happened. So that’s a positive.

Kimi Antonelli

It’s not that with this change all of a sudden everything is gonna be a lot better. But I think it is a good first step in the right direction. Of course, we’ll see how much we can push this further, these changes, but obviously, we’re trying to work collectively for the sport as well. But I think yeah, it’s a good first step in the right direction, and we’ll see what the next one will do.

Max Verstappen

It’s a tickle. It’s not what we need yet to really make it flat-out, but it’s complicated to get everyone to agree. I just hope for the next year we can make, really big changes.

Isack Hadjar

It’s good that after only three races, we’ve been able to have a change this early is very, very positive. It shows that they’re working hard and listening to us to improve the situation. I don’t think it’s the most representative try. I don’t think it’s a challenging track for the power units we have. I think it’s gonna look good, but some other track is definitely going to be harder. But let’s see tomorrow how it feels inside the car, and you’ll know more.

Lewis Hamilton

I imagine they will continue to improve through the year. We’ll find out this weekend whether that change they’ve made… It’s good to see they are making changes, whether or not it’s enough or not. We will see this weekend. I drove on the sim and didn’t really feel much different, so it’ll be interesting to see how that impacts us when we’re off track, when we’re qualifying and in the race.

Carlos Sainz

We’re just simply just happy that there was a reaction from FIA, FOM, drivers, teams, we all sat down together and tried to obviously improve the situation. I don’t believe we will come up with a magic bullet here that will suddenly change everything, but I think all the changes are sensible and hopefully going to make things a bit more enjoyable from our part. Just happy to see where we’re collaborating, working together to make the sport better and more enjoyable. Whether it will make a big difference or not, we will obviously have the next few races to analyse, adapt and see, to see if we need to do further change.

Alexander Albon

Had a go on simulator, just with the new changes being made, and I think that it improves some aspects. Is it fully pure, where we’re just driving as quickly as we can? No, I don’t think so. There’s still a few more steps to go, but I think we need to see how these changes go first of all. I think that we’re definitely heading towards the right direction, and then it’s just, how much more do we need to do? I imagine we’re going to finish this weekend, and the drivers are going to kind of put their take on what extra bits we need. I think it’s a great first step, but there’s going to be likely a second step and a third step afterwards. I think it’s positive for everyone.

Liam Lawson

It’s hard to know until we drive on track. So right now, obviously, we’ve done simulations and driven it in the simulator. It’s hopefully a step in the right direction but honestly, until we drive on track, I don’t really know.

Arvid Lindblad

It’s hard to know. I mean, we’ve tried some of the stuff in the sim, but we’ll have to see when we get in the car.

Fernando Alonso

I think on the regulation changes, let’s wait and see. I don’t think that they will change completely what we saw in the first three races, to be honest. These power units and these regulations will always reward going slower in the corners because you have more energy. Small tweaks can improve a little bit the clipping, which, again, I’m not sure if we go back to Suzuka, where I spoke with the team and we raised with the current rules, we will have more clipping than once we had in Suzuka. So it’s a little bit contradictory, what I read in the last few weeks and what I heard today. So that’s why I need to see, on track, how it feels.

Lance Stroll

Hopefully it’s better with the part throttle and all this stuff. It’s just destroying the racing, the qualifying laps, so hopefully it’s been more normal to drive, we don’t think so much about all the management and lifting coast and how much throttle and all this stuff. But I think we’re still far away from proper F1 cars and pushing flat out without thinking about batteries.

Esteban Ocon

I think we need to wait and see, obviously, in reality, how it feels. The only reference we have is driving in the simulator and seeing the differences. I think there are differences, they are going in the right direction for sure. It’s limiting the lift and coast that we have to do. It’s limiting the weird driving a little bit that we have to do. I think we still have to do some, we can’t drive exactly the way that it would be the quickest in the corner, because we will lose in the straight still, but it’s definitely better than if we would have started in a normal way. I think the big gain also is the automatic launch. Before the quali lap, we had to do like, 50 percent roughly, before we’re launching the lap. This is not the case anymore. This is similar to how it was last year. We can prepare the last corner well and start the lap. So in theory, that’s what’s going to happen. We’ll see in reality, again. It’s small steps better. I don’t think it’s yet the full clear story, but I think there will be other iterations probably this year to try and improve further.

Oliver Bearman

We tried it on the sim. There’s been a few things that have been really nice, for example the qualifying lap start. Now it’s automatic, whereas last few races, we were having to manage the throttle manually, it’s like 50 percent, so you’re having to look down at your dash to see exactly how much throttle you’re using when starting a lap, which is a bit dangerous. Now it’s automated, which simplifies things for us. A few of the other things really based on quali that should simplify life a bit for us, which is really what we wanted and asked for, because we want to be able to go out there and drive on instinct rather than driving thinking about all of these things. A few of the other things, obviously I’ve tried them in the simulator, but it’s tough to really draw conclusions, because it’s just you and the sim. When you’re with other cars, obviously things change a bit, so let’s see. Let’s see. But I think the most important thing is that they’ve been very receptive to our feedback, and I hope it continues that way.

Nico Hülkenberg

I think it was some good work done between FIA, everyone involved, and actually some of the drivers as well, obviously, in the spirit of safety, closing speeds, being able to push more and in quali laps, opening quali laps, everything is a little bit less complicated, more user friendly, more pushing and in quali. So, yes, a little bit of a reset for here, I suppose, for everyone to learn again about it on track, how it is in real life. Obviously, everyone has done their simulations and simulator stuff in preparation. But in real life, maybe still slightly different in a way, sometimes so curious to see how it feels and how it goes.

Gabriel Bortoleto

We need to wait and really see how the rules are changing, but I don’t think it will be a massive change. In that sense, the overtakes are still going to be similar to before.

Franco Colapinto

I think we have to wait and see. Everyone has been working really hard to try and fix some of the issues. But unfortunately, [we have] to wait and see on track how it is. It’s also changing a lot from track to track, depending on how much we brake, how much high-speed corners… It’s quite up and down with races. So yeah, I guess we need to wait and see.

Sergio Perez

I think it’s definitely something really good to see, seeing the teams, FIA, Formula One, the drivers, all trying to improve what we currently have. And I think it will be a really good step. I don’t know how much of a difference that will be, because we obviously need to race it, but it’s good to see that we are trying to make good changes to improve in all areas, and to improve the show, and the feeling with the cars, with the qualifying. So it’s a really nice step to see.

Valtteri Bottas

All the new adjustments to the rules, it makes sense. I think it’s into the right direction in terms of trying to have less gaps with the closing speeds, perhaps a little bit less aggressive clipping at the end of the straights, so that makes sense. I think it’s still quite a small step, but step into right direction.

You could do a bigger change, but at the same time, I think what is tricky that I understand, you don’t want to penalise any teams that have done well. You don’t want to make change that would change the order of teams, or anything like this.

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

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