Stroll – F3 “1000 times more fun” than current F1 cars

Lance Stroll has not held back in a scathing critique of Formula 1’s controversial 2026 regulations, going as far as saying the cars are “fake” and that F3 was “1000 times more fun” than the current F1 cars.

The Canadian sampled GT3 machinery for the first time during F1’s enforced April hiatus, taking part in the GT World Challenge Europe season opener in France, as well as testing F3 cars.

“I drove other cars over the break, I tested some F3 cars, and it’s like 1000 times more fun and better to drive because your right foot, you give what you want, and you get what you want,” Stroll said, speaking to the media ahead of the Miami Grand Prix.

“Even the weight of the car, 550-650 kilos are a lot nicer than 750-800 plus kilos.

“Things like that just make cars fun to drive.”

A major point of frustration for drivers this season has been the excessive energy management required by the 2026 power units, which feature a 50/50 split between electrical energy and combustion power. The concept has even been labelled by Stroll’s teammate and two-time world champion Fernando Alonso as a “battery world championship”.

Changes have since been introduced by the FIA and Formula 1 following a series of meetings between the Japanese Grand Prix at the end of March and Miami this weekend, with an increased emphasis on safety, the qualifying spectacle, and reducing artificial racing.

“Hopefully it’s better, with all the part-throttle and all this stuff. It’s just destroying the racing, the qualifying laps,” Stroll added.

“Hopefully it’s a bit more normal to drive, we don’t think so much about it, all the management and lift-and-coast, and how much thought we put into all that stuff. But I think we’re still far away from proper F1 cars. Pushing flat out, without thinking about batteries.

“I think we’re miles off of where we should be. We had time off in the break, I was, like, randomly watching old races and stuff – I even had the Monaco Historics on the TV and I heard some cars, some Ferrari cars from early 2000s, and how good they sounded, how small and nimble they were.

“There were some onboards I saw from early or even mid 2000s, the V8 era, V10 era, and then what it looks versus now, it came up on my phone and stuff, and I was watching it – and you hear what it’s like now, the character of the cars and how much more intense it looked, how much more exciting it looked back then compared to now. It’s sad but hopefully we’re heading back in that direction.”

Stroll went as far as to label the regulation package “fake,” emphasising the lack of character in the 2026 cars.

“Then the sound, everyone hears the sound of the V8, V10 era and is going like: ‘Wow, that is amazing, that is F1 when you hear it’ and now, de-rating into a corner, I’m downshifting going into a corner with no character or no noise.

“It is fake. I hear rumours about it. I mean, for the next regs. But now we’re going to have to live with these ones for the next three-four years.”

As a driver who is rarely outspoken on such matters, Stroll also addressed what he perceives as a disconnect between drivers and the sport’s rule-makers and commercial stakeholders.

“F1 is a business, and they want to protect their business and make it look good, and we’re drivers, and we know what it feels like to drive good cars,” he said.

“So, there are two different perspectives on it, and people are watching the sport no matter what, and watching Netflix and turning on Formula 1, and so F1 is happy.

“But the drivers, the fans, the people that really know about racing, who know what it was like before, and the drivers who know what it is really like to drive really good, proper cars, there is no hiding behind the fact that right now, it is not as good as it can be.”

He concluded by reiterating his commitment to Aston Martin, despite a difficult start to the season under the leadership of Adrian Newey and the transition to a works Honda engine partnership.

“No, because I still have a lot of belief in this project, and I think the project is so far from our potential,” he said when asked if he was planning on walking away from the sport.

“And two, three years’ time, I’m sitting on the sofa and I’m watching two green cars at the front of the field, and I’m not a part of it, it will bother me.

“So yeah, I want to be a part of that.”

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Written by

Jawad Yaqub

An eCommerce Specialist by day and reporting on F1 by night. Jawad is passionate about motorsport, having provided accredited F1 coverage for more than a decade and is a member of the AIPS (International Sports Press Association). Live blogging (almost) every grand prix too since 2014, as well as articles on the Supercars Championship. Also keen on sustainability, photography, collecting vinyl, (trying to) expertly barbeque and learning to Dad.

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