(Motorsport-Total.com) – After several European Formula 1 weekends where energy management felt somewhat more natural for the drivers, Max Verstappen expects a completely different story for the British Grand Prix.
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Monaco offered the most natural experience so far, as the drivers could go full throttle in qualifying thanks to the many slow corners and braking zones. According to Verstappen, the Red Bull Ring was also relatively straightforward, as the track in the Styrian Alps has several hard braking zones where energy can be recovered.
At Silverstone, these are missing due to the fast and flowing layout, which is why the four-time world champion expects a completely different experience for the drivers there – more like it was at the start of the season. Verstappen says this became clear to him during simulator sessions in Milton Keynes preparing for the British Grand Prix.
A “different” Silverstone expected
“Silverstone, I love the track, but I did a few laps in the simulator and just started laughing,” says Verstappen after securing his second podium of the season in Spielberg. “Honestly, it felt like a different track.”
For the drivers, this means a weekend with more energy management, which changes the experience in the many high-speed corners of Silverstone compared to, for example, the ground-effect era. Verstappen describes those cars in slow corners as “boats,” but they were known for their performance in fast sections.
There have been many changes on the chassis side this year, which many fans actually see positively due to the drivers working more on the steering wheel and the cars feeling less like they are on rails. However, energy management is a different story, especially when drivers lose speed before braking zones due to superclipping.
Similar to Japan?
“You hardly have any battery over the lap. It’s just constantly fully digital. So yes, it will feel completely different due to the track layout than what we are used to at Silverstone.”
Suzuka provided a similar example with the famous 130R. Although this corner has been taken flat out for years, drivers lost about 50 kilometers per hour due to energy restrictions, which made the challenge in 2026, according to Fernando Alonso and Lando Norris, very different from before.
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Verstappen expects parallels at Silverstone, where the passage through Copse, Maggots, and Becketts is particularly demanding as it is taken flat out and offers no braking zones for energy recovery.
Not the “natural” gear choice
“Here [in Austria] you have long straights and big braking zones so you can charge the battery,” explains Verstappen. “There you have long straights, but for example in a fast corner, so you can’t really charge the batteries, and on the next straight you don’t have much to burn. That will be a tough nut to crack.”
Formula 1 fails: These rule changes were a flop
The ground-effect cars had to be driven extremely stiff and low, which is why the new rules represent progress from a chassis perspective. According to Verstappen, however, these improvements are still overshadowed by the demands of energy management on tracks like Silverstone.
“I think it’s less natural, but that goes hand in hand with energy management, right? Because you can’t use the gears that would be natural half the time. So it’s less natural than before or than what real racing used to be.”
Solutions for the future are in place
Verstappen is, however, pleased with how Formula 1 and the FIA have listened to his feedback, which helped bring about the regulation changes for 2027 and 2028.
The combustion engine will come more into focus again in two steps, with a 58:42 split next year before reaching the targeted 60:40 ratio in 2028. That seems enough to keep Verstappen in Formula 1 longer.
He says, however: “This year everything was incredibly complicated with so many different things. You leave the pits and the car stalls, things like that. Most of the time I just have to count to 10, or actually more like to 100.”
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