Verstappen blasts 2026 F1 rules after wild Spa start: “Welcome to the jungle”
Battery management wreaked havoc at the start of Spa. “We’re going to have a plane collision,” Max thought. “What the hell is going on?” Antonelli asked.
“Welcome to F1 2026. Sometimes it feels like a jungle.” Max Verstappen didn’t need to reopen his long‑running criticism of Formula 1’s hybrid rules — one sharp line in the FIA’s post‑race press conference at Spa said it all. His comment came after the dramatic and dangerous power drops drivers suffered on the Belgian circuit, creating massive speed differences during the Grand Prix start.
Battery management chaos on Lap 1
For the front‑row starters, battery deployment was everything. Verstappen jumped Kimi Antonelli before Eau Rouge, but on the Kemmel straight his speed evaporated. Antonelli retook the lead, and Charles Leclerc — with even more top‑end — blasted past like a rocket, nearly pulling alongside the Mercedes.
Behind them, George Russell also ran out of electrical energy, forcing him to enter Les Combes side‑by‑side with Lewis Hamilton. Everyone knows how that ended.
Verstappen described those frantic opening seconds: “Clearly too much deployment from from Turn 1 to Turn 2. And then I went through Eau Rouge and I looked at my battery status and I was like ‘well that’s going to be a difficult run Les Combes. I expect, of course, Kimi to come by, and then I look in my mirror and I just saw a red rocket coming. I was like, ‘Oh, I’ll just hold my line because if I move here, we’re going to have an aeroplant shunt’. So, yeah, it was pretty incredible the differences.”
Antonelli agreed: “It was crazy. To be fair, I was so confused of what was happening because Max came flying past me before Eau Rouge, and then I passed him back. But then I saw Charles that almost came alongside me, and I was like what the heck is happening you know like I had no clue. I was just trying to to hold a position on track, and I was looking in my mirror the whole time because I just saw so many cars coming. But yeah it was a crazy start. But luckily we got away cleanly.”
“This isn’t enough for F1”
Beyond the chaotic start, Carlos Sainz lamented how classic circuits like Spa and Silverstone lose their magic with the current cars:
“In the race you have less grip, so you fight the car more. But yes, we all miss last year’s qualifying, especially at tracks like these. There’s no point talking much more… Everyone knows this isn’t enough for F1 and it needs to change.”
Sainz, now with Williams, pointed to the upcoming shift in power balance — more combustion engine, less electric — with ratios moving to 58–42 in 2027 and 60–40 in 2028. But he admitted that still “probably won’t” fix the problem.
That’s why F1 is already planning a major overhaul for 2030. “Everyone is tired of these electric excesses. We need to go back to what has always worked in F1.”
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