Lewis Hamilton says new F1 rules confuse fans

• Lewis Hamilton says the new engine rules make Formula 1 “ridiculously complex” and warns “none of the fans are going to understand it”.
• He points to heavier energy management with the new 50/50 power split, plus new driving compromises in qualifying and racing.
• Hamilton says teams are still learning, and rulemakers are expected to let the rules settle before any quick changes.

Lewis Hamilton says this season’s new Formula 1 regulations have made the sport “ridiculously complex”, and he worries fans will struggle to follow what is happening.

The seven-time champion was talking after driving Ferrari on the first morning of this week’s Bahrain preseason test. He focused on the new power unit rules, built around a nearly 50/50 split between internal combustion and electrical power, with a much bigger emphasis on managing energy.

Hamilton said: “I sat in a meeting the other day and they’re taking us through it. And yeah, it’s like you need a degree to fully understand it all.”

The new rules create an environment where the cars are short on usable electrical energy through large parts of a lap, pushing teams and drivers to maximise recovery. That has produced fresh approaches to both set up and driving.

Examples include holding back on corner exits before starting a qualifying lap, plus backing off on straights to preserve energy for later in the lap. Drivers can also use a boost button for extra power when passing, then risk being short of energy and exposed on the next straight.

Hamilton highlighted the contrast between tracks, using Barcelona as an example of extreme energy saving.

Hamilton said: “If you look at Barcelona, for example, we’re doing 600 metres lift and coast on a qualifying lap. That’s not what racing is about. Here (in Bahrain), we’re not having to do that because there’s lots of braking zones.”

He also said the energy demands are influencing gear choice, with drivers dropping into lower gears than they would prefer to help recovery.

Hamilton added: “The low gears that we have to go down into is just because we can’t recover enough battery power.

“We can’t recover enough battery power, so that’s why we have to go and rev the engines very, very, very high. So we’re going down to second and first in some places just to try to recover that extra bit of power.”

Four different energy recovery approaches are in play under the new rules:

• Regenerative braking, where the motor recovers energy while slowing for a corner
• Part throttle overload, where the battery takes power from the engine in sections where full throttle is not required
• Lift and coast, where the driver lifts early so the electric motor can run against the engine
• Superclip, where the control unit diverts energy to the battery even with full throttle on the straight

Hamilton’s comments come early in the learning curve for teams and drivers, with plenty of development still ahead before the season begins. Energy saving techniques such as lift and coast were already part of Formula 1 under the previous engines too. Rulemakers are expected to give the new package time to bed in before drawing firm conclusions or rushing into changes.