Verstappen curious: 'Formula 1 and the FIA need to work on that'

Concerns about the enforceability of 2026 regulations have been voiced plenty in recent days. For instance, teams fear that - if the proposed rules become reality - the cars will become very slow in the corners while being much faster on the straights. Moreover, tests in the simulator revealed that the current Formula 2 cars are even faster over an average lap than the F1 cars of '26 and onwards.

Meanwhile, it is clear that the regulations will be tinkered with further in the coming period, as F1 teams do not consider them 100% realistic and feasible. Max Verstappen will also be watching that process with interest. The world champion previously indicated that he is fairly neutral on the proposed plans and especially curious about the cohesion between the battery and engine.

In any case, the Dutchman is curious to see what those higher speeds on straights will be like. "For sure the speeds look at some places very, very high," Verstappen says. "With less grip or downforce in general it might make things a bit more difficult. But it's not something that I'm naturally worried about. It just depends on how the aero devices work, how much downforce that you get, how much they allow you, how much is it going to back off at certain places as well?"

All in all, Verstappen can only come to one conclusion: "It's something that the FIA has to work on with F1 to see what is safe or not," concludes the Dutchman, who is more focused on improving his Red Bull car for the short term.