Lance Stroll has delivered the strongest attack yet on Formula 1’s 2026 regulations, declaring they are “completely wrong”.
The Aston Martin driver went on the offensive in Miami, where minor rule tweaks are set to debut – even overruling attempts to shut down questions on the topic.
“No, it’s fine. You can ask questions about this,” he said when a team representative tried to intervene.
The Canadian then returned to his blunt assessment.
“Hopefully it will be better with the half-gassing and all the things that kill the racing and qualifying rounds,” Stroll said.
“I do think we’re still away from real Formula 1 cars, in which you can push fully without thinking about batteries.”
He dismissed the Miami tweaks as insufficient.
“We’re miles away from where we’re supposed to be,” Stroll said.
“The regulations are essentially completely wrong. I’m not an engineer, but there’s a lot of things we can do.”
His frustration extended to the driving experience itself.
“No, Formula 1 is not so much fun to drive in,” he said.
“I drove in other cars during the break. I tested some Formula 3 cars, and those were 1,000 times more fun to drive because it depends on your right foot.”
“You decide how much power you want and you get that back.”
Stroll also pointed to the loss of identity compared to past eras.
“I also saw onboard images from the V8 era and the V10 era,” he said. “It used to be much more intense and much more exciting, compared to how it is now. It’s sad, but hopefully we’ll go that way again.”
He suggested many drivers agree but cannot speak as freely.
“Some drivers can say this, and other drivers can’t say this because of contracts,” Stroll said.
“That’s Formula 1 – it can become very political.”
Valtteri Bottas struck a more measured tone.
“It’s still a small step,” said the Cadillac driver, “but a step in the right direction.”
“We could make a bigger change, but at the same time, we mustn’t penalise the teams that have performed well.”
Meanwhile, Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali rejected the idea of a crisis.
“Formula 1 has absolutely no problems, Formula 1 is in excellent shape – just so everyone is clear about that,” he insisted.
