Carlos Sainz believes fixed public criticism of F1’s new automobiles by drivers is “self-harm” for the collection and believes these feedback needs to be saved non-public.
The 2026 automotive rules got here below heavy criticism after qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix on Saturday.
Reigning world champion Lando Norris mentioned F1 automobiles had gone “from the most effective to the worst” and Max Verstappen mentioned the system was “not right”.
A lot of the criticism has centered on the brand new engine’s 50/50 power introduction to inner combustion ratio, which has led to slower speeds on power-hungry components of the Albert Park circuit.
A driver’s briefing in Melbourne on Friday was mentioned to be heated between the FIA and drivers lobbying for modifications to their automobiles.
Suggestions from automobiles have to be ‘constructive’ however ‘does not make anybody completely happy’
questioner crash internet Relating to what was mentioned on the driver’s briefing, he mentioned: “As I mentioned throughout testing, any criticisms I’ve in regards to the rules will stay constructive in direction of the FIA and the FIM and I’ll attempt to not belittle the game an excessive amount of, as a result of on the finish of the day I believe it is simply self-inflicted wounds to maintain the followers and journalists again…if the drivers are too detrimental about this set of rules, I believe everybody will choose on it.”
“And I believe the most effective discussion board is the motive force briefing or the private conversations between Stefano (Domenicali) and the FIA.
“It is clear that to this point nobody is completely happy and the one factor we really feel is that this 50/50 hybrid system appears to be placing a whole lot of bandaids on, making an attempt to unravel the underlying drawback that’s giving us so many complications.”
Sainz endured a troublesome qualifying day in Australia however was unable to run as a result of issues along with his automotive and ended up lining up in the back of the sector.
“Within the Bahrain take a look at we had no issues when it comes to reliability, however at the moment all the things appears to be clear,” he mentioned.
“I believe Alex (Albon, fifteenth) was struggling all weekend when he was on observe.
“I do not know, as a result of the few laps in FP1 had been extra aggressive than I anticipated.
“However I do not know the way far I might have gotten as a result of I actually did not do any laps in FP2. I did not put on softs in FP2, I did not do any laps in FP3, I did not even go in Q1.”
