Lando Norris has taken a swipe at Formula One bosses for running the world championship as a ‘business’ rather than a sport.
The world champion was alluding to this year’s controversial move to half-electric engines that have diluted the purity of racing as the batteries are depleted and recharged each lap, a process partly dictated by AI algorithms.
This has resulted in frequent and random overtaking that has potential to please uninitiated fans but has infuriated drivers and connoisseurs watching at tracks and on TV.
Norris let rip at F1’s American owners Liberty Media, who employ Stefano Domenicali as the sport’s chief executive, ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix.
He said: ‘Formula One is heavily led by the fact it’s a business nowadays, and not about making the sport the best possible.
‘It’s about how you make the most money. That’s not what it should be. That’s not how a sport should be run.
‘The fact we have hybrids, 50-50 and all that, (is the problem). It’s been done because more teams wanted to come in and you make more money.’
Lando Norris is not happy with the way Formula One is currently being run
He was alluding to Audi, who were seeking a move to all-electric road cars in a mission statement that has, ironically, been watered down due to slower than expected sales, being induced on to the grid by the promise of the new technology.
The most vocal critic among the drivers has been four-time world champion Max Verstappen, who derided the new regulations as ‘anti-racing’ and like ‘Mario Kart’.
Norris, whose McLaren team have not won a race this year, does not see a fix on the horizon despite modifications coming in next year and 2028 to reduce the electric element of the power unit.
‘You can’t just change your engine in the middle of the year, and you can’t change it even with one or two years’ notice because, as I say, it’s not about doing what’s best for the performance of a car – it’s a business,’ he argued. ‘It’s a shame.’
Asked if spectators can enjoy the hybrid formula, he added: ‘Fans from five years ago, pre-Drive to Survive, would hate this.
Four-time world champion Max Verstappen has compared Formula One to Mario Kart
‘But fans nowadays are a lot more personality-based, about the drivers, and not about Formula One as a whole sport, so are less interested in how the actual race goes. They care more about whether a driver has done well or not.
‘The fans have changed, and that’s completely fine. But the biggest voice should always be ours as drivers. That is not because we’re selfish and chasing what we want.
‘We’re saying that because we have the best idea of how racing should be, how it can be, what’s possible, what’s not. We want the best for everything, the best for the fans, the best viewing, the best racing for us, the most fun to drive.
‘At the minute, we don’t have that. We have very, very little say. What they have done is because you can have Audi and other teams in F1, and that is a bigger win than the drivers being happy.’
Formula One and the governing FIA are promising to introduce V8 engines in 2031 in a tacit acknowledgement they have got it wrong.
