Verstappen outlines his ideal future for Formula 1

It should not come as a surprise that Max Verstappen is not the biggest fan of F1’s current regulations. The Dutchman first voiced his concerns almost three years ago during the Austrian Grand Prix of 2023, and appeared to hold exactly the same opinion at the start of this year.

Verstappen described the current engine formula in Bahrain as “Formula E on steroids” and repeated his views in Australia and China. Since then, things have become quieter in the public domain, partly because both the FIA and F1 have told him that it would be more constructive to hold discussions behind closed doors about possible improvements.

Verstappen’s opinion unchanged despite Red Bull progress

In Miami, a first step regarding those improvements was made. The picture in Florida looked slightly more natural than before the April break, although several drivers stressed that this was mainly due to the track layout.

Lando Norris stated that yo-yo racing is absolutely not gone yet – although that was never the main aim of the tweaks – while team-mate Oscar Piastri added that the closing speeds are still “enormous” at times.

Verstappen also believes the product hasn’t fundamentally changed, not even for qualifying, for which the harvesting limit was lowered.

Asked by Autosport whether the tweaks had made things slightly more enjoyable for him again, Verstappen replied: “No, the rules they changed for this weekend don’t really make much difference to the overall driving experience.”

Verstappen’s opinion has also not changed now that Red Bull again looks more competitive. The four-time world champion has always stressed that the competitive picture and his opinion on the regulations are two separate matters, and that remains the case.

“My criticism of the regulations remains exactly the same,” he added. “It doesn’t matter whether I’m running second or eighth. For me personally, our car does feel a bit nicer to drive, but the rules still need to be fixed.”

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Alastair Staley / LAT Images via Getty Images

One of the key issues that need solving is what Norris highlighted during Saturday’s press conference in Miami: drivers are still being penalised for trying to go faster. Carrying more speed through a corner can mean paying the price on the following straight because less energy is then available.

“That’s still very strange,” Verstappen agreed. “You still have the situation where if you are more on throttle in certain corners, it slows you down on the next straight. We really need to get away from that.”

It punishes drivers who like to push the limit, and in general all drivers when they try to take more risks in Q3. Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc has been vocal about this on multiple occasions.

Verstappen calls for an 80-20 split in the future

There appears to be consensus in the paddock that more changes are needed, although the follow-up questions remain how and when. As for the latter, Verstappen does not think the situation can be saved this year.

“That will be difficult, especially at certain tracks. But hopefully they can make a bigger step for next year,” he said. “More power from the combustion engine and less battery power, that will solve a big part of it.”

The current split is roughly 55% coming from the internal combustion engine and 45% from electric power, but Verstappen would ideally like to see a far more radical shift.

“We simply need to move away from that 55-45 split. We need to go back towards how it was under the previous hybrid regulations, at the very least. If you get back to 75% or 80% combustion engine, that would already help a lot.”

Verstappen knows that this will require patience. In the paddock, momentum increasingly seems to be building towards a V8 engine running on sustainable fuels with a smaller electrical component. FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem said in Miami that this will eventually happen and it is only a matter of time.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Guido De Bortoli / LAT Images via Getty Images

“Yes, but that will obviously still take a while,” Verstappen responded. The question is whether the Dutchman himself will still be around by then, having already indicated that he does not intend to race in F1 into his forties: “We’ll see about that when the time comes.”

While Verstappen would like to see major changes on the power unit side, he also points out one positive aspect: he feels that the current chassis is actually quite a decent platform: “The car itself is actually pretty decent. You can race reasonably well with it, we just need to get away from that 55-45 split.”

In Verstappen’s view, this should happen in two stages: first by introducing changes to the current regulations for next year, and then longer term with a V8 engine.

While the latter now seems fairly realistic, the FIA has already taken steps regarding the former. The governing body has outlined plans to extract an extra 50kW from the internal combustion engine by increasing the fuel flow and at the same time reducing the electric share by 50kW. It means that the new split for 2027 will be 60-40 in favour of the combustion engine.

Several teams indicated in Miami that they wanted clarity on possible changes for 2027 this month, especially if those changes would relate to the fuel flow and larger fuel tanks – something that would require chassis modifications. According to Verstappen, however, complaints on that front were mainly political.

“Those tank-related changes are very easy to solve. It’s more about certain engine components, but that always becomes a political story, because everyone always thinks they have an advantage somewhere, or not,” he said.

“I’m simply thinking about how we can make the sport better. It shouldn’t be the case that if you go flat-out through a corner – where you gain lap time – you then get penalised on the next straight. We really need to get rid of that.”

In Verstappen’s view, that should ideally already happen in 2027, after which the next set of regulations – potentially introduced earlier – should structurally move further in that direction.