F1 should drop battery power, not increase it - Verstappen
Formula 1 should get rid of its electrical battery element, not increase it, according to four-time world champion Max Verstappen.
Verstappen's headline-grabbing criticism of F1's new 2026 cars last week in Bahrain included calling it "Formula E on steroids". The regulation changes for this season mean an increased near-50/50 split between battery and traditional internal combustion engine power.
That was inevitably one of the key topics in the first FIA press conference of the season in the lunchbreak of the opening day of Bahrain test two.
Verstappen was asked whether, given the increased electrical and energy management elements of F1, Formula E could become a more important feeder series to F1 than Formula 2. Especially as Formula E's new Gen4 car is set to bring it significantly closer to F1's new performance level.
"Well, let's hope not," was Verstappen's clear reply.
"[That's] not about the drivers because there are a lot of good drivers [in Formula E] that would be able to perform also really well here, but I don't want us to be close to Formula E.
"I want us to actually stay away from that and be Formula 1, so don't increase the battery, actually get rid of that and focus on a nice engine.
"And have Formula E as Formula E because that's what they are about and I'm sure that with the new car [Gen4] - from what I've seen and from talking to some of my friends in there - that's going to be also a really cool car. But let them be Formula E and we should stay Formula 1 and let's try not to mix that."
The Race asked whether Verstappen had received any pushback from F1 or the FIA for being so negatively outspoken about its new product, to which Verstappen deftly swerved: "I'm just sharing my opinion."
"We live in a free world, free speech and that's what I felt. Not everyone needs to feel like that but that's what I felt.
"Also it doesn't matter what other people have to say about that, I got a question and I shared my opinion. That I'm allowed to do.
"It's not about receiving pushback or whatever. I was just being honest."
'Verstappen can master these regs'
Red Bull team boss Laurent Mekies has "zero concerns" about Verstappen losing interest in this kind of F1, and instead thinks he can be the driver to master the tricks.
"The reality is the challenges of these regulations are massive for the teams, massive for the power unit manufacturers, massive for the drivers as well," Mekies explained.
"So it is different for all of us, but that's also what we love: to break through these challenges, to find solutions that we felt were not on the table.
"That's what we'll do with Max's help, I'm quite confident that, as it will turn out, he will most likely become the best at mastering those regs and technicalities and tricks, as much as he was in the previous set of regulations."
You'd be hard-pressed to bet against Verstappen doing so, but you still have to wonder whether that will be enough for him to want to stick around in the long term.
Especially, as he's already made clear in Bahrain, his long-term future is more about having fun than winning. And as murky as the pecking order picture is now, Verstappen doing one of those things in Melbourne looks far more likely than the other right now.