F1 world champion revealed issue that Sky star says 'must' be fixed

Lando Norris, McLaren, Japan, 2026 — Photo: © IMAGO

Formula 1

F1 world champion revealed issue that Sky star says 'must' be fixed

Lando Norris revealed some troubling info last month

Originally written by Chris Deeley. This version is a translation.

Monday 6 April 2026 19:00

Sky Sports F1 commentator Martin Brundle has called on F1 to make a significant change, after comments made by Lando Norris at the Japanese Grand Prix.

There have been a number of criticisms made about the new regulations introduced for 2026, and this is just another to add to the ever-lengthening list.

Norris revealed that there were times in the race when he didn't want to try an overtake on Lewis Hamilton, with whom he was fighting for much of the race, but his battery deployment system meant he had little choice. That, in turn, led to Hamilton breezing back past him thanks to the McLaren's depleted battery.

Article continues under video

Specifically, Norris said: "Honestly some of the racing, I didn't even want to overtake Lewis, it's just my battery deploys, and I don't want it to deploy but I can't control it. So I overtake him and then I have no battery, so he just flies past."

Brundle: Drivers shouldn't have any surprises

That, Brundle said on The F1 Show after the race, is an absolutely unacceptable state of affairs.

“One thing that really worried me was Lando Norris saying 'I didn't want to overtake Lewis Hamilton, but my battery decided it did and then I had nothing to defend with'," Brundle said.

“Now there's a regulation in Formula 1. It's been around forever. It's very simple and far reaching: ‘The driver must drive the car alone and unaided’, and I think that's what I talked about linearity… the driver shouldn't have any surprises by a self-learning car.

"They've got to get rid of that. I'm sure it's not the work of a moment, but the power delivery must be proportional to what the driver is doing with the throttle. That's a fundamental. It has to has to be linear as I said. So it's a big issue for the FIA.”

Norris explains F1 battery issue

Norris went into more depth about the yo-yo nature of the new deployment system after the race, complaining that there is 'not enough control' for those driving the cars.

"The problem is," he said, "it deploys into 130R, I have to lift, otherwise I'll drive into him, and I'm not allowed to go back on throttle. If I go on throttle, my battery deploys, and I don't want it to deploy, because it should have cut, but because you lift, and you have to go back on and it redeploys.

"There's nothing I can do about it, so there's just not enough control for a driver, and that's why you're just too much at the mercy, of what's behind you, and that's just not how it should be."

Formula 1