Lando Norris told Max Verstappen he should retire if he does not like the new Formula One regulations being introduced this year.
Britain’s new title holder and the four-time world champion were engaged in a war of words as pre-season testing unfolded in Bahrain ahead of the opening race in Melbourne on March 8.
Verstappen, 28, claimed the revamped regulations have delivered cars that are not Formula One as he knows it.
In a damning verdict of the coming era, he said it is ‘not a lot of fun’, and instead like ‘Formula E on steroids’.
The rules demand that energy recovery, lifting and coasting, is a central component to ensure battery charge remains sufficient to optimise overall performance over a lap.
Ironically, Verstappen’s Red Bull team appear to have produced a very competitive engine – their first home-grown power unit, with backing from Ford – despite their star man’s reservations over the new regulations.
Lando Norris has told Max Verstappen to quit Formula One if he doesn’t like the new rules
The Dutchman said: ‘The right word is management. But, on the other hand, I know how much work has been going on in the background on the engine side from the guys. So it’s not always the nicest thing to say.
‘But I also want to be realistic. As a driver, the feeling is not very Formula One-like. It feels a bit more like Formula E on steroids.
‘As a pure driver, I enjoy driving flat out. And, at the moment, you cannot drive like that. There’s a lot going on.
‘A lot of what you do as a driver, in terms of inputs, has a massive effect on the energy side of things.
‘For me, that’s just not Formula One. Maybe it’s better to drive Formula E, right? Because that’s all about energy efficiency and management. That’s what they stand for. Driving-wise, it’s not so fun.’
‘All the good drivers will be able to adapt to it. That’s not the problem, but it is just that the whole way of racing is changing, and I would say less pure.
‘I just want normal driving, just how it should be, without having to think, “If I brake a bit longer or less or more, or one gear up or down”, so it heavily impacts the performance on the straights.’
Norris, a mate of Verstappen, took an opposing view of the changes. ‘A lot of fun,’ said the McLaren man, who claimed his first title in Abu Dhabi last year.
Verstappen believes they now feel more like Formula E cars, less pure, and not as fun to drive
Addressing Verstappen’s comments directly, Norris added: ‘So, yeah, if he wants to retire, he can retire.
‘I really enjoyed it. Formula One changes all the time. Sometimes it’s a bit better to drive, sometimes not as good to drive.
‘We get paid a stupid amount of money to drive so we can’t really complain.
‘Any driver can go and find something else to do. It’s not like any driver has to be here.
‘It’s a challenge, but it’s a good, fun challenge for the engineers and the drivers.
‘It’s different. You have to drive it in a different way and manage things differently.
‘But I still get to drive cars and travel the world and have a lot of fun, so there is nothing to complain about.’
Formula E, to which Verstappen alluded, is the all-electric series that relies on significant energy management to ensure that cars make it to the end of races without running out of charge.
The F1 conundrum is somewhat different, with charge levels going up and down over any given lap, though the coasting that is called for militates against going flat out every moment.
