Source:REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed
[Saba Sports News] Lewis Hamilton, current driver for the Ferrari team, recently voiced strong dissatisfaction with the new regulations during a media interview. He bluntly stated that the driving experience of the new car “is slower than GP2 now.” He also criticized the driving systems, admitting that he still cannot fully grasp the new energy management, battery strategy, and active aerodynamics switching logic. However, there is a silver lining—Hamilton noted that the shorter and lighter body makes it easier to recover the car when it goes out of control, giving it more of a rally feel and making it more fun than the previous generation. But he emphasized that this fun comes at the cost of significantly reduced speed and competitiveness. In essence, his criticism highlights the awkward state F1 finds itself in today. The new regulations were intended to make the cars more environmentally friendly and easier to follow, but instead, they have stripped away the very core of F1—speed and competitiveness. Now, F1 increasingly feels like a competition of energy management and technical details, rather than a pure contest of drivers’ skill and courage.