Lando Norris Fears Big Crash From New F1 Rules

• Lando Norris warned that Formula 1’s new 2026 regulations will lead to a serious accident, describing closing speed differentials of 30-50kph created by the new “overtake” mode as a danger to drivers and spectators alike.
• Norris finished fifth at the Australian Grand Prix, 51 seconds behind race winner George Russell, and said during the week that F1 had “gone from the best cars ever made to the worst.”
• Russell pushed back on the criticism, pointing out that McLaren outperformed Mercedes with the same engine in 2025, and suggesting drivers finishing off the pace are most likely to question the rules.

Lando Norris left the Australian Grand Prix with a safety warning for Formula 1, saying the sport’s new 2026 regulations are building toward a serious accident.

Norris opened his championship defense in fifth, finishing 51 seconds behind race winner George Russell and one position ahead of four-time world champion Max Verstappen. At the center of his concern is the new “overtake” mode, which delivers a sudden burst of speed to allow a driver to attack a rival who is slowing to regenerate battery charge, creating large and unpredictable closing speed differentials across the field.

“It is chaos, and we are going to have a big accident, which is a shame because we are driving and the ones just waiting for something to happen and to go quite horribly wrong and that is not a nice position to be in,” Norris said on Sunday.

“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.”

Verstappen, who drove from 20th on the grid to sixth, added his voice to the criticism and again tied his long-term future in the sport to whether the new rules become enjoyable to drive.

“I love racing but you can only take so much,” he said. “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 One, proper Formula One on steroids, but today that wasn’t the case.

“What they [F1] should worry about is the rules. Focus on that. They ask questions and I give my opinion on what I would like to see and I think is better for the sport because I do care about it, I do love racing, and I want it to be better than this.”

Russell, whose Mercedes team established an early advantage over the rest of the field from the opening round, was unmoved by the criticism. The race winner traded the lead with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc six times inside the opening nine laps before a Ferrari strategy error allowed him to pull clear and take the championship lead for the first time.

Asked whether the driver complaints amounted to little more than frustration from those finishing off the pace, Russell did not sidestep the point.

“If he [Norris] was winning, I don’t think he’d be saying the same.

“We weren’t happy with how stiff the cars were last year and the porpoising and everyone had bad backs and drivers were complaining about that, but the McLaren drivers said there was no porpoising even though we watched their car and there was.

“Everyone’s always looking out for themselves. We’re all selfish in this regard. The truth is last year we had the same engine as them and McLaren did a better job than us and they beat us. So far we’ve done a better job than them, and that’s just how the game goes.”

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