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Lando Norris has delivered a scathing critique of Formula One and its management for prioritising making money over sporting considerations when forming the sport’s new regulations. The world champion argued that the drivers should have been more involved in the process.
Norris is among many drivers who have been clear this season he is unhappy with the new regulations, their focus on energy management and how it has affected negatively their enjoyment of driving. It is a problem he believes had been created because F1 framed the rules in order to attract new engine manufacturers into the sport.
“The thing that’s a shame is that Formula One’s gone too heavily led by the fact it’s a business nowadays and not how can you make the sport the best possible,” he said. “It’s how can you just make the most money as a business and that’s just not what it should simply be. That’s not how a sport should be run.”
The use of an almost 50-50 split in electrical power and the internal combustion engine is understood to have been central in attracting manufacturers such as Audi and Honda into F1 this season. However, it has proved hugely unpopular with drivers, who now have to manage their use of energy rather than being able to race flat out and has introduced some variables into performance influenced by the algorithm that governs the deployment of electrical power.
Norris believes drivers’ complaints were being listened to but they did not carry great weight against the financial imperative he felt was driving the sport.
“They listen but you can’t just change your engine in the middle of the year and you can’t change it even with one or two years’ notice because it’s not about making the best performance of a car … it’s a business,” he said. “Everyone wants to make money, so in order for Audi and other teams to come in we had to change these things. It’s a shame, it should never have been like that. But that’s how businesses work.
“The biggest voice should always be ours as drivers and that’s not because we’re selfish in saying that but because we have the best idea of how racing should be, how it can be, what’s possible, what’s not. We would just want the best for everything and at the minute, we don’t.
“We have very, very little say and a lot more of it’s done because if you can have Audi and other teams in it, it’s a bigger win than the drivers being happy.”
The shortcomings of the new regulations were shown starkly at the last two rounds at Silverstone and Spa. Both circuits are considered energy-starved, leading to a chorus of complaints over race weekends, and at Spa the lack of power left one of the great tracks an anodyne affair.
At the Hungaroring this weekend there will at least be some respite from the issue, with the preponderance of corners ensuring plentiful recharging and that the race to be run at full pace in what will likely be a tightly contested fight.
The Mercedes engine advantage will not be so pronounced on the tightly twisting circuit, where Ferrari and Red Bull will expect strong form, with Ferrari’s pace out of the corners a major boon in the last race before the summer break.
In first practice, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc topped the timesheets from the Red Bull of Max Verstappen with Lewis Hamilton in third. In the second session Hamilton was on top with Leclerc in second and McLaren’s Lando Norris third. Antonelli was in 13th place and his Mercedes teammate George Russell in fifth.
