Why F1 drivers should tone it down about 2026

“F1 has chosen that direction for all the right reasons – and I have no doubt that as a sport we can make sure the racing is great,” said no Formula 1 driver about the 2026 regulation changes.

And that’s probably OK – you want them to speak their minds. What you don’t want is a driver sounding like a cardboard cutout from an insurance commercial, bragging about having nothing to worry about while standing in front of a car wreck. Yet sometimes they do.

F1 teams’ PR and marketing departments are now almost as big as the mechanics’ crews. And, while it would be an overstatement to say that their drivers are overcontrolled, it’s still unusual for a regular F1 pilot (one whose surname doesn’t start with ‘Alo-’ or end with ‘-tappen’) to bash their own team’s lack of performance or a strategy call. When a person in the same-coloured shirt is standing next to you with a recording device, that’s a factor you consider when choosing your words.

Some scenes from early Drive to Survive seasons captured a few ‘media briefings’ that teams offer. As contrived as the series can be, you still have to credit the Netflix crews for showing Sebastian Vettel – a four-time world champion and Ferrari driver – being told by the team’s PR that he “can’t be too funny” when the team isn’t winning.

There’s a long, interesting debate about how a sport that should thrive on drama and personality gets neutered by the very tool that claims to promote it. You could argue that instead of curfew rules and headcount limits for those working on cars, we should have much stricter limits on marketing and PR staff at the track.

Even in that environment, some topics are almost off-limits. On stewards’ decisions, drivers seem far more creative – there usually aren’t FIA white shirts hovering with voice recorders. You can also be outspoken when telling Pirelli, via the media, how to make better tyres – picking whatever narrative suits you, jumping between “too soft” and “too hard”.

Vettel was advised he “can’t be too funny” when the team isn’t winning

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

Then there’s the sport itself and its future – always fertile ground. And while it’s often uncomfortable to criticise your own team or team-mate, it’s somehow fine to talk down the whole industry.

Remember the outcry from the drivers when the halo arrived – a device literally designed to protect their very own heads. It turned out fine, didn’t it? What first looked ugly and out of place now feels integral to a single-seater – to the extent that pre-halo photos look weird.

Alex Wurz can tell you stories of drivers later apologising for being cocky in the media and admitting how uncomfortable it feels to sit now in a fully open cockpit on a demo run at Goodwood, for example.

Outrageous as it may sound in contrast to what drivers say, it will most likely be just about fine – and then, inevitably, get better

And oh, there were also complaints about the noise, of course. You still hear them whenever V10 nostalgia trends and someone wants cheap popularity points. Today’s drivers rave about the 2010 cars, too. Guess what the 2010 crowd said back then? Right – that the 1990s were better.

It’s nowhere near as bad now with the 2026 rules, but you still hear moaning about how unsatisfying the next-gen cars are in simulators, or how “unnatural” the racing might look – even though those models are still early builds.

Some even say that “smart” drivers will benefit – a line that almost implies F1 should protect drivers’ right to remain stupid.

Verstappen rarely holds back in criticism of F1, his team or anything else he sees needs addressing

Photo by: Mark Thompson / Getty Images

And while, of course, you want your F1 driver to feel free to be themselves, it’s probably wise for them to try harder to find the right balance in how they come across in the media. They aren’t, at the end of the day, the only ones responsible for the negativity around the sport’s near future.

After all, even if a driver were to say that F1 will surely be fine next year, that quote would never make a clickable headline – because, for some reason, humanity loves negativity. But bringing the sport down as a whole isn’t going to help. Showing a bit more of their own character will.

Truth is, no one knows what 2026 will bring or how the racing will look. And, outrageous as it may sound in contrast to what drivers say, it will most likely be just about fine – and then, inevitably, get better. As in 2014. As many times before.

Formula 1 will be different next year. But as long as the best driver in the best car wins, it’s still going to be Formula 1.

This article is one of many in the monthly Autosport magazine. For more premium content, take a look at the November 2025 issue and subscribe today. 

It was better back then: today’s drivers rave about the 2010 cars

Photo by: Getty Images