FORMULA 1 F1 CALENDAR 2026 LEWIS HAMILTON MOTOGP RUMOURS

Key flaw in new F1 rules blasted: ‘A plaster on top of the engine issue’

Photo: Race Pictures

F1 News

16:00, 09 Mar

Updated: 16:29, 09 Mar

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byTobia Elia

Carlos Sainz did not hold back in his criticism of the new regulations and the new cars after the Australian Grand Prix.

“We should not need to have active aero for racing, in my opinion. I think the active aero and the SM is a plaster on top of the issue of the engine.”

- Carlos Sainz

Speaking to GPblog and other media after the race, the Spaniard did not hold back in his criticism of the new regulations, stating that the whole “infrastructure” is not working at the moment.

“We should not need to have active aero for racing, in my opinion. I think the active aero and the SM (straight mode) is a plaster on top of the issue of the engine. When you come to circuits like this that you're energy starved, you end up having to use SLM in places where we shouldn't to protect the thing, the deployment. So in the end, you end up having a dangerous situation like we have in lap one and racing in general.

“The issue is not the SLM, the SLM we need it. You saw we were doing lift and push like crazy yesterday in qualifying. If you now remove SLM, we cannot even race with the deployment we have, so we kind of need SLM, but it's a plaster to a solution, to an infrastructure that for me just doesn't seem to work very well right now.”

Photo: Race Pictures

New 2026 Formula 1 rules to be 'reviewed' after the Chinese Grand Prix

Following pre-season testing in Bahrain, the FIA and the teams agreed on a timeline to assess the situation before considering any regulatory changes. A thorough evaluation is set to take place after the Chinese Grand Prix.

Speaking to GPblog and other media in Bahrain, Tombazis explained that all teams were aligned in preferring to keep the current framework in place for the opening races rather than rushing into immediate changes.

Read the full story here.

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