(Motorsport-Total.com) – Formula 1 drivers are almost in agreement after this year’s season opener in Australia: the new rules are no fun. Some drivers even compared the races in the premier class to video games and joked that they would use “Mario Kart” as preparation for Formula 1 races in the future.
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Now Cadillac driver Sergio Perez is also following up with clear criticism. “To be honest, I found it quite fake,” the Mexican, who has returned after a one-year break, said clearly before the second race of the season in China (2026 Formula 1 calendar).
You “just have to press a button,” the long-time Red Bull driver reminds us of the boost or overtake mode (Explained: the new terms of Formula 1) and the expanded energy management. “You overtake, and then you get overtaken again. Very much in Mario Kart style.”
“Sure, in the end the driver can also make the difference, but it boils down to …,” adds the Cadillac driver, who fought a heated duel against Liam Lawson in the Racing Bulls for 16th place during the race and made no friends in the process.
Carlos Sainz: This is “not a real overtaking maneuver”
Williams driver Carlos Sainz also cannot yet get used to the way the new cars drive. “I don’t think it’s good that the top speed drops in the middle of the straight and you lose 30 to 40 km/h in the middle of a qualifying lap due to super-clipping,” he says.
“I also don’t like having to lift off and coast in the middle of a qualifying lap, and for example, I don’t like the racing behavior in Melbourne,” adds Sainz, who also joins Sergio Perez’s criticism.
“The speed differences we achieve with the boost and overtake modes, i.e., a 60 km/h difference when overtaking, as if the other car is completely stationary, are not real Formula 1 overtaking maneuvers,” the long-time Ferrari driver clarifies.
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“Anything that enables something like that can be called artificial in a way,” says Sainz. “For me, it simply doesn’t belong to the DNA of the sport. The DNA of the sport consists of putting yourself in an overtaking position and completing it with heavy braking or an elegant ‘switchback’.”
“The energy should only get you to that point,” the Williams driver thinks, but “not enable you to overtake someone who is completely stationary.”
Sergio Perez clear: “I didn’t like it”
“It’s still very early with these rules, it takes time,” Perez also knows that most teams and drivers have not yet found the perfect energy management and the right approach in duels. It could still change a lot.
Nevertheless, the opener was a first taste of the new Formula 1 era. “What we saw in Melbourne, and I’m speaking as a fan now, I didn’t like it,” the Mexican says clearly, joining the criticism of his fellow drivers.
The Cadillac driver does not believe in a quick and, above all, satisfactory adjustment of the regulations, for which “four or five proposals are already on the table.” “It will be difficult because all teams have to agree and some have big advantages, so it will be complicated.”
“But I think everyone is looking for a bit of change in the year,” adds Perez, who in any case draws a clear conclusion after the opener in Australia: “What we have at the moment is, in my opinion, not good for anyone.”
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