Frustrated Lance Stroll blasts “fundamentally flawed” F1 2026 rules

Lance Stroll has spoken out about the 2026 Formula 1 power unit rules and suggested that despite the recent updates they are “fundamentally flawed.”

It’s not the first time that the Canadian has vented his feelings this year, but he went a little further in Miami on Thursday - and it wasn’t just a result of the disappointing start to the season for his Aston Martin team.

Stroll was inspired in part by having recently had fun racing a GT car at Paul Ricard and also testing F3 machinery during the break, as well as watching F1 cars from the past both in historic racing and contemporary videos.

He made it clear that he doesn’t expect the latest tweaks to change much in the short term.

“Hopefully it's better,” he said. “All the part throttle and all this stuff, it's just destroying the racing, the qualifying laps. So hopefully it's a bit more normal to drive, and we don't even think so much about all the management and lift and coast and how much throttle we put, and all this stuff.

“But I think we're still far away from proper F1 cars, and pushing flat out without thinking about batteries and all this stuff.

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

“I saw from early or even mid-2000s and the V8 era, V 10 era, and then what it looks like versus now. It came up on my phone and stuff, and I was watching it.

“You hear what it's like now, and the character of the cars and just how much more intense it looked and how much more exciting it looked back then compared to now. It's sad, but hopefully we're heading back in that direction.”

He stressed that he got more pleasure from driving cars from other categories.

“F1's not so fun to drive,” he said. “I drove other cars over the break. I tested some F3 cars, and it's like a thousand times more fun and better to drive because your right foot, you give what you want, and you get what you want.

“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. And then the sound and the noise. I mean, I'm saying it, but everyone that hears a car from the V8 era, V10 era, is going like, ‘Wow, that's amazing, that's F1.’

“And you hear it now, de-rating going into a corner, downshifting, going into a corner with no character, no noise.”

No major change before 2031 

Stroll doesn’t expect much to change until the next rules set, which is scheduled for 2031.

“I think it's fundamentally still flawed,” he said. “I mean, I'm not an engineer, but maybe there's still things that can be done. I heard the fuel flow is difficult with the combustion size of the engine we have now and all this stuff. And, yeah, I don't have all the answers. It's sad that we're in the situation.

Regarding talk about a return to V8s he said: “I hear rumours about it for the next regs, but now we're going to have to live with these ones for the next three, or four years.

“So I don't know what's going to happen, but hopefully we go back in that direction, loud, fast, light, nimble machines that are exciting for the fans, exciting for the drivers. You really feel like you're pushing on the limits.”

Asked by Crash.net if it was frustrating to have to deal with the current regulations for another four seasons he said that the current issues hadn’t come as a surprise.

“It is, but we saw it coming,” he said. “Everyone said for the last year and a half, or however long it's been, that everything that was looking like in adding these batteries, and then taking off downforce from the cars to support the batteries, and all this stuff is not looking good, and now it's just what we got, what we expected to have.

“So it's probably more frustrating for Aston Martin than for Mercedes right now! But that's F1, so it is what it is. Hopefully it gets better.”

F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali insisted recently that the sport is in good shape and played down concerns about the regulations.

Asked about the apparent disconnect between that view and those of drivers and many fans Stroll said: “Because 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. So there's two different perspectives on it.

“And people are watching the sport, no matter what, and watching the Netflix and turning on F1, and so F1 is happy.

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

Stroll won't quit F1 any time soon 

Despite his frustration and the fun he had on his GT outing at Paul Ricard Stroll insisted that he’s not planning to quit F1 any time soon.

He says he wants to be around to take advantage when Aston Martin’s fortunes improve.

"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. “Adrian joined the team. We have the new factory, the new wind tunnel, stuff that everyone knows.

“And I believe this team has a lot of potential, and I want to be in it and see and be a part of this team when we do get to the point where I believe we're capable of getting to.

“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. And hopefully as and when that happens, the cars become better and more fun to drive.

“All the drivers would like that. I mean, it's not just me. I think some guys can say it. Some guys cannot say it because of contracts and stuff. I do hope that these cars do get much better over the years. And we get back to nice F1 cars.”