(Motorsport-Total.com) – The new Formula 1 regulations already have a lot of critics even before the start of the season. Max Verstappen grumbled about a “Formula E on steroids,” and fans and experts are also still skeptical about whether the new Formula 1 will be any good. Former driver Marc Surer also joins the critical voices, but can still find a lot to like about the new cars.
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“I like the cars themselves,” says the Swiss in an interview on the Formel1.de YouTube channel. Because by moving away from the pure ground-effect cars of previous years, the vehicles move more in the corners again, so that the drivers have a bit more to do at the steering wheel again.
“You can see that the cars are a bit more agile in the corners,” says Surer. That means they don’t just stick to the ground, but show significantly more movement than before. “And I like that,” he says. “Actually, it’s much better than in recent years.”
“That shouldn’t really be the case”
And yet, there are also some points in the regulations that bother him – exactly what many drivers, including Max Verstappen or Fernando Alonso, have also complained about: that the fastest driver might no longer be at the top at the end.
The 2026 Formula 1 cars in their final designs on the race track
For Surer, one fact definitely belongs to Formula 1: “Whoever brakes latest and drives through the corner fastest should win the race.” But in 2026, that will probably no longer be the fastest way to the finish line, because drivers will sometimes lift off the throttle significantly earlier to gain energy for the straights, otherwise they will run out of juice.
“That means now, whoever charges best, before and in the corner, wins the race afterwards. And that shouldn’t really be the case,” the Swiss criticizes, and therefore has concerns about whether the races will be as good as in the past.
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Can drivers no longer drive alone?
However: management has always existed in some form in Formula 1. Surer is aware of this, but for him, there is a decisive difference compared to the past that is a thorn in his side: “That the engineer has to tell the best driver in the world what to do. That shouldn’t really be the case,” he says.
“Formula 1 should be such that the driver has to decide alone during the race and can decide alone how he has to drive,” says the former pilot. “And now suddenly he is told this by an engineer who might be fresh out of school. That bothers me terribly.”
In the past, the driver was still responsible for how much power he wanted to use. “We could also turn up the boost pressure or not. We then had to manage fuel consumption. But basically, the driver always decided that himself,” says Surer.
“And I believe that drivers can’t actually drive today’s cars without instructions anymore. And that bothers me.”
(The full interview before the start of the 2026 Formula 1 season will be available on Monday on the Formel1.de YouTube channel.)
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