F1 star Max Verstappen 'in talks' with FIA in showdown over new 2026 cars

Max Verstappen

F1 star Max Verstappen 'in talks' with FIA in showdown over new 2026 cars

Max Verstappen is in talks with bosses

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Thursday 12 March 2026 16:45

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Four-time F1 world champion Max Verstappen has suggested that he is in conversation with F1 bosses and the FIA over the 2026 regulations.

Verstappen has been heavily critical in the early months of the year about F1's new cars, which have undergone huge changes amid some wholesale regulation tweaks in 2026.

The Dutchman has complained that the new cars are not fun to drive, while overtaking has been revealed by a number of drivers to be too easy on track, highlighted by the fact that there were 120 overtakes at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, up from 45 at 2025's event.

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Now, Verstappen has hinted that there are some small changes that can be made by F1 to make closing speeds a little less potent in the upcoming races of the 2026 season, and that he is in conversation with F1 bosses about how that could happen.

He has also suggested that larger changes to the power units could be made for 2027, but any proposed changes need to have a majority vote between the current five power unit manufacturers on the grid in order to go through.

"I’ve traded my simulator for a Nintendo Switch and I’m playing Mario Kart to prepare for a grand prix," Verstappen quipped during Thursday's press conference ahead of the Chinese GP.

"I’m having discussions with Formula 1 and the FIA. We’re working on something, and I hope we can already implement significant improvements by next year. There are several options we’re discussing.

"For this year, it would already be nice if we used somewhat normal top speeds, if that means using less battery power, then so be it. That’s fairly easy to do. Hopefully bigger things can be changed by next year."

Verstappen continued: "In recent years you saw that the fastest drivers were on the throttle the most during a lap. If you do that now, it works against you because you use more battery."

F1 2026 Regulations: Every new rule and car change explained

Overtakes by mistake?

With the incredible closing speeds on certain straights due to some cars harvesting energy by 'clipping' at the end of the straight, and other cars deploying their full battery power with the use of the boost button and overtake mode, overtaking looks incredibly easy in F1 2026.

Verstappen's friend Gabriel Bortoleto even claimed following the Australian GP that he had overtaken a number of cars 'by mistake' due to not quite understanding the new rules.

"It was very nice, I must say, but a lot of things to be learned still," Bortoleto told media after the race. "I made overtakes - that I didn't want to make - by mistake, because I had so much energy and the other car was clipping like crazy.

"But you need to think a lot when you're racing. Last year, everything was much more predictable. So, as soon as you make an overtake, it was done. And now you make an overtake, you need to calculate the next three straights, because maybe the guy will overtake you back, then you need to overtake him back in the other one. And it keeps going like that until everyone is in the same state of energy.

"I wish I could give you more than this, but I'm still a bit confused with the regs. And I'm getting to know them better while we live them."

It remains to be seen whether any changes will be made mid-season, or whether drivers will begin to understand the regulations a little better, and overtaking may just become naturally a bit more difficult as the season progresses.

F1 Red Bull Max Verstappen FIA Chinese Grand Prix