Lewis Hamilton blasts controversial F1 decision - 'Makes absolutely no sense to me'

Lewis Hamilton has criticised the decision to shorten F1 races from 2027, pointing out that the sport is less physically demanding than ever.

The seven-time world champion reacted to this week's news when speaking to the media at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Wednesday, warning that the move is likely to result in even more simple one-stop races.

The main reason being bandied around for the change is that, when F1 moves to a 60/40 ICU/battery split next year from this season's 50/50, cars will use more fuel. Larger fuel tanks would require teams to redesign their cars to some extent, which they'd prefer to avoid – so race lengths have been trimmed to remedy that.

Hamilton admitted that he's unsure about the details behind the decision, but called on Wednesday for races to actually be lengthened in order to physically challenge drivers and create new wrinkles for teams.

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Hamilton: Shortening races makes no sense

“I don't really know anything about it or any of the reasons they put it up behind it," the Brit admitted. “I think the races should be longer because the races are physically easier than ever before.

“So shortening, I don't think, makes much sense. If you think about this weekend, we have the C3, 4, 5 [tyre compounds] that can pretty much all do the race distance. So we have a lot of races where it's only a one stop. It's not particularly challenging.

“There it is challenging, but they're making tyres that just seem to go longer. So for me, there's been many races where I wish we had more laps. So it's the opposite that I would be asking for [which] is longer races, to be honest.”

He continued: “This is supposed to be the sport that's the most physically demanding and mentally, but there are some that are just so hot and, ultimately, you are on the edge.

“Like, Singapore is incredibly hot and demanding. Malaysia will be crazy this year. But that's where I think you wanna see athletes just right on the edge. Right? Right at the edge of their performance, having to actually push their bodies further because that's what this sport is about, pushing the levels and pushing the boundaries. So shortening the races makes absolutely no sense to me.”

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