Formula 1 plans peace talks with raging drivers after Verstappen Mario Kart jibe
Formula 1 chiefs plan talks with drivers aimed at quelling a rebellion over its new engine rules after four-time world champion Max Verstappen likened the racing to video game Mario Kart.
Verstappen was among the most vociferous after finishing sixth in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Sunday, but current title-holder Lando Norris also issued a warning.
The biggest changes to the sport’s regulations in generations – including a boost button to overtake – have split the paddock, and the PA agency reports F1 will hold talks with drivers before this week’s second race in China.
Britain’s George Russell led home teammate Kimi Antonelli in a Mercedes one-two in Melbourne whose only serious challenge came from Ferrari pair Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton.
Red Bull’s Verstappen fought his way from 20th on the grid to a creditable sixth, one place behind Norris on a sobering weekend for McLaren.
“If you enjoy that, then okay, but that’s what I do at home when I play Mario Kart,” said the Dutchman. “For me, I didn’t enjoy the way we raced. It is not really proper.”
Norris: New F1 rules will cause big accident
Verstappen had earlier said: “I love racing but you can only take so much. I think F1 and the FIA are willing to listen, but I hope there is some action.
“It is not that I am the only one saying it. We are not critical just to be critical. We are critical for a reason. We want it to be Formula 1 – proper Formula 1 on steroids – but today that wasn’t the case.”
Norris warned that the new overtaking format would prove highly dangerous to drivers, owing to the speed differential between cars slowing to conserve power and those using a boost.
“It is chaos, and we are going to have a big accident,” said the Englishman. “We are driving and just waiting for something to go quite horribly wrong, and that is not a nice position to be in.
“Depending on what drivers do, you can have closing speeds of 30, 40, 50kph, and when someone hits another driver at that speed, you are going to fly and go over the fence and do a lot of damage to yourself and maybe to others and that is a pretty horrible thing to think about.”