To someone like Max Verstappen, the whole point of Formula One is to watch close proximity, open wheel racing with cars specifically tailored to match each racer’s strengths. That’s a little hard to do when there are restrictions on the engines that are new to the 2026 season. At the beginning of this season, Formula One announced that they were changing their gameplay to focus on battery harvesting and energy deployment. For Verstappen, who has been racing in Formula One since 2015, these changes make the car extremely difficult to adapt to.
This isn’t the first time that Verstappen has vocalized his issues with the new engines, but it seems like this might be his last rant. He stated, “I’ve spoken my mind about these regulations for a really long time. And in the beginning, most people were saying, ‘ah, he’s complaining, he should shut up.’ But I have to say that in the last few races, more and more people are seeing the same thing that I could see coming already a long time. And it’s not about me not winning anymore, it’s just because I care about the product.
“Because I’ve said it many, many times. And at one point, that’s also enough, right? But of course, people keep asking, and then maybe [the answer is] not appreciated always. But I’m just speaking my mind, because you see certain things coming.”
“Sometimes people say, ‘ah, yeah, but this was a great race.’ But I say it’s not really realistic the way we are driving. And then you arrive to some tracks, and yeah, you’re driving on not a lot of horsepower for F1 standards. And it’s a little bit painful, which I could see coming already for years. So it’s not the most exciting. But at one point, I’m also a little bit just fed up with repeating myself. Because it’s already hard enough just having to drive it.”
After some interesting races during the 2025 season that saw teammates swapping with each other to share points, many question whether racers are truly allowed to drive the way they want. Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris notoriously swapped places with each other during multiple races with Oscar’s swap during the Italian Grand Prix being the hardest for Piastri. According to Verstappen, not only did team mindsets hold fast drivers back, but he believes that the new engines do the same thing.
“In every kind of racing series, if you gain time in the corner, that’s just free lap time. You would not then be penalised on the straight, normally. Where now, you really have to think about, ‘oh, I have to use a different gear, braking technique, or the way you go back on throttle’.”
“It’s basically just neutralising a lot of lap time, and that’s why, I guess, in general, you see a lot of close battles between teams and also team-mates, because sometimes you cannot make a difference. You’re not allowed to make a difference because it will just penalize you on the next straight.”
As of right now, Verstappen holds 91 points while Kimi Antonelli leads the drivers’ standings with 204 points. On top of that, Red Bull Racing has 151 points while Mercedes is dominating the competition with 358 points. Not only would he have to overcome the new engine standards set forth by Formula One, but he would also have to deal with the expert racing of Kimi Antonelli. While the prospects for him passing the grid’s drivers and taking the championship are slim, he’s still hopeful that the team can keep moving forward in Hungary.
“I’m looking forward to go out here and see how competitive we are. I don’t really know. We had a decent weekend in Spa; to be on the podium there was definitely very nice. It’s been in general an upwards trend the last few races, so that’s good to see. The season probably didn’t start where we wanted it to start, so we’re making nice improvements.”
No matter what changes are made in the sport, Max Verstappen is not the kind of driver who would just give up when things get hard. Even with the new changes introduced to the 2026 season, he is still going out on the track, searching for the best finish in every race. He may have won four consecutive drivers’ championships from 2021 to 2024, but unless he can adapt to the new engine modes, he’s going to struggle to find his footing.
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