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Verstappen rings alarm bells: 'fundamentally flawed' F1 cars are a threat for the sport

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10:46, 15 Mar

Updated: 11:07, 15 Mar

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byKada Sarkozi

Max Verstappen doubled down on his Mario Kart claim after the Chinese Grand Prix, and was heavily critical of the new regulations once again.

"It's not fun at all, no. It's playing Mario Kart. This is not racing."

- Max Verstappen

The Dutchman continued voicing his opinion against the current Formula 1 cars after his DNF in Shanghai. Verstappen was running in sixth place before being told to return to the pit lane to retire his car.

"It's still terrible. I don't know, if someone likes this then you really don't know what racing is about," the Dutchman began to GPblog, among others, when asked about whether racing was less artificial this weekend.

"It's not fun at all, no. It's playing Mario Kart. This is not racing. I mean we were slower this weekend, so we were fighting Haas and Alpine the whole race. Of course some other cars yes. Look at the racing, you are boosting past and then you run out of battery the next straight, they boost past you again. For me it's just a joke.

"This has nothing to do with racing. I would say the same if I would be winning races because I care about the racing product. It's not about being upset of where I am because I'm actually fighting even more now of course so you get to understand what you have to do and what it is about even more, but for me it's really a joke."

Can these regulations be saved? "You can help it a little bit but it's fundamentally flawed."

When asked whether V8s are the solution, the Dutchman added: "Yes, but I mean I don't see that happening next year. It's painful."

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Photo: Race Pictures

Verstappen finds it hard to see everyone agree

The Red Bull driver then continued talking about the discussions with Formula 1 and CEO Stefano Domenicali.

"Well, you have to be a bit careful with how you say these things. We are talking about it. I think they understand where we are coming from as drivers.

"I think I speak for most of the drivers. Some, of course, will say it's great because they are winning races, which is fair enough. When you have an advantage, why would you give that up?

"Because you never know if you're going to have a good car again. But if you just speak to most of the drivers, yes, it's not what we like. I don't think it's what the real F1 fans like, maybe some fans like it but they don't understand racing, but yes, hopefully we can get rid of this as soon as possible."

Verstappen also rings the alarm bells, saying that focusing on this type of racing could have long-term consequences.

"I hope they don't think like that because it will eventually ruin the sport. It will come back and bite them in the ass."

- Max Verstappen

"I hope they don't think like that because it will eventually ruin the sport. It will come back and bite them in the ass. But for me, as long as we can just communicate with them and make sure that we are working on some solutions that will help a lot, but it's also going to be very difficult with everyone to agree.

"Not everyone needs to agree but most of the people have to agree to make changes, but like I said it's political. Some people feel they have the advantage now and they want to of course use that, rightly so, I get that, I'm not stupid. But at the same time, if you look at it for the sport, it's just not good."

Could drivers also one day take part in creating the regulations? "Yeah, I wish, but I don't think that will happen," Verstappen said.

"But they should have listened already in ‘23 to already see this coming. Unfortunately, they didn't, but maybe it's a lesson for the future, that this would never happen again. That would be great."