(Motorsport-Total.com) – At the start of the 2026 Formula 1 season in Melbourne (Australia), there were several accidents over the weekend. Andrea Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) crashed in the third practice session on Saturday, a few hours later Max Verstappen (Red Bull) was caught out in qualifying. And on Sunday, Oscar Piastri (McLaren) crashed out even before the start.
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In the race itself, there was no major crash, but according to Carlos Sainz, it could have happened quickly, especially in the starting phase. “The biggest concern for me in the race is the first lap. With SLM, it felt really unsafe when everyone was on the back straight,” said the Williams driver.
This refers to the new “Straight Mode” or “Straight Line Mode” (SLM) in Formula 1, which was allowed to be activated five times during a lap in Melbourne over the weekend. According to Sainz, this led to it being “very difficult” at times to control the car.
“On the straight it’s not so bad because it’s like DRS last year,” explains the Williams driver. As with the former DRS, drivers also set the rear wing flat in SLM this year. In addition, the front wing also folds down in 2026.
Because you lose a lot of downforce as a result, according to Sainz, it becomes dangerous at the point where “Straight Mode” is no longer allowed to be activated only on a pure straight like the start-finish straight.
Why it doesn’t work without “Straight Mode”
In Melbourne, for example, the wings were also allowed to be flattened before Turn 9, even though the track has a kink there and you’re not just driving straight. This already caused discussions on Saturday because the FIA wanted to remove the SLM at this point for safety reasons – but ultimately backed down.
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According to Sainz, the big problem is that while “Straight Mode” is dangerous in some places, it’s not possible without the new mode either. “You saw that all the teams were doing lift-and-coast like crazy in qualifying,” said the Spaniard.
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“If you leave out the SLM now, we can’t drive at all with our deployment. So we kind of need the SLM,” Sainz knows. And that’s exactly where the dilemma lies, because without “Straight Mode” the cars would have too much drag on the straights.
This would lead to the cars running out of energy far too quickly. “In my opinion, we shouldn’t need active aerodynamics for racing,” Sainz emphasizes, explaining that the SLM is merely “a band-aid” for the engine being too weak.
The consequence is now that on a low-energy track like Melbourne, “Straight Mode” has to be used in places “where we actually shouldn’t.” The solution is therefore “a band-aid for an engine formula that simply doesn’t seem to work very well for me at the moment.”
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