There's a 'snitch' among the Formula 1 drivers

On Friday evening, a routine meeting was held between the drivers and the FIA. A meeting behind closed doors where drivers should be able to speak freely and address sporting and safety concerns with F1 and the FIA. That, however, turned out not to be entirely the case. On Saturday morning in the Melbourne paddock, it had become clear that someone had leaked the discussions from the meeting to the media and various remarks were running online.

“We clearly have a leak in the group,” Alexander Albon said with a slight laugh. Max Verstappen found it less amusing. “It’s a bit weird that you know that. Drivers shouldn’t be talking about that with other people. It’s not professional from the people involved.”

Lando Norris, also one of the drivers who had been highly critical of the current Formula 1 cars, seemed somewhat irritated: “How did you hear?” Norris did, however, have an idea where the leak might be. “If you have 20 of the drivers complaining; I don't know what's better for the sport.”

The drivers who aren’t complaining? Well, that would of course be the Mercedes drivers. With the advantage the team has, George Russell and Kimi Antonelli naturally won’t complain about the current cars. Many other drivers do have their reservations, but the remarks from those drivers end up out in the open right after a meeting.

For journalists, it’s their job to uncover the mole, but for the drivers it’s understandably frustrating that statements they think they’re making in a trusted environment don’t remain confidential. It will only increase mutual distrust.

And that doesn’t solve the biggest problem. Because what truly every driver agrees on: with these cars, it’s not fun to race. Verstappen had been saying for a long time that this would be the case. Still, he double downed on his criticism and stated that 'it will be a long season' this way.

Norris was more outspoken. He said they had gone from the best F1 cars to the worst cars. Oscar Piastri smiled when he heard his teammate’s strong statement, but he certainly didn’t disagree with Norris.

And you hear the same from more drivers. The biggest issue is especially the battery that needs to be recharged. It causes drivers to bog down on the straights, forces them to do unnatural things in the corners, not to mention the start of a lap. Where drivers used to go full throttle onto a straight, they now take it easy to avoid draining the battery before crossing start/finish line.

Verstappen is right, however, when he says there’s nothing to be done now. The rules are what they are, despite years of criticism about what this would mean for racing. Changing those rules suddenly will be very difficult. Especially since a Mercedes will never vote along.

And that is Mercedes’ right as well. They’ve done their homework the best so far. They shouldn’t be punished for that. The focus should be more on the rule-makers. Because what those have produced for cars and power units is really not what many drivers want. And whether the fans will be happy, remains to be seen if Mercedes truly has such a big lead over the competition.