Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson respond to claims from Max Verstappen regarding the current F1 cars being easier to drive, where you can just jump in and perform.
’s has been on about the 2026 F1 regulations not just from the start of the year, but he has been vocal about them for the last few years, when things started to take shape behind the scenes. He knew that the racing would be in this shape, where battery and energy would be key players.
Even in driving terms, he feels it is much , considering that there is less driver input and more of the components doing the job. He cited the example of his current teammate Lawson, who jumped in the Red Bull car in Zandvoort and immediately felt good to push.
It was the same for Racing Bulls’ Tsunoda, who only got his first chance in Zandvoort in the current generation of cars and has managed to score a point in Monza. The same drivers faced it much harder last year when they made the switch early in the F1 season.
Verstappen Meant No Disrespect
“No disrespect and I hope no one picks up on this, but look at Yuki,” said Verstappen in an interview to BBC Sport. “He jumps in the car, never driven the car before [and] immediately competitive. Liam jumps from the Racing Bulls to the Red Bull – immediately competitive.“It’s because these cars are numb to your driver inputs. Of course, yes, you still have to do a good lap. And you still have to commit. The fastest drivers will always come out on top. But it’s really, really limited, like a choke hold or something. You’re held back,” summed up Verstappen.
His teammate Lawson understands what the Dutchman meant, but doesn’t readily agree with it wholly. He doesn’t think that the current-generation car is as simple to get used to. He stressed that the energy aspect is difficult to ascertain because it changes at every circuit.
Lawson Doesn’t Think It Is That Simple
“I don’t know, I mean it’s something that the cars in general that they’re not simpler because they’re actually quite complicated in the way that you have to know, this is the way the energy is,” said Lawson to media at the F1 Spanish GP.“But sometimes I can understand, I feel like there’s things that are maybe less in our control with the way the energy is. But I think at the same time, it’s myself and Yuki who have jumped in these cars, we’re really the only ones that know what it’s like to try and get up to speed in the new car. So it’s definitely not a simple thing.”
Tsunoda Concurs With Lawson on Energy Point
Tsunoda, meanwhile, somewhat agreed with Verstappen but not wholly, noting that the cars are certainly different to drive. The Japanese driver also feels that energy and the deployment are tricky to grasp. It is not straightforward for anyone, especially in battles.“It is his comments, so I don’t know,” said Tsunoda in his media session. “I really just read it to be honest. That’s it. It’s different car for sure. So I don’t know. It’s just different car, obviously energy deployments, this stuff is different.
“It’s obviously part of things that you can’t really push flat out in some corners. Something I experienced in already Monza. So but yeah, that’s it. Yeah, I think I’ve done a good job and that’s it,” summed up Tsunoda, who added that the downforce helps them to slide a bit more but also control it.
Racing Bulls Car Has Made Adjustment Easier
At Racing Bulls, it has been a bit easier to get used to. “I don’t know because normally I have Bahrain test, couple of testing and it’s the race week and this one, I was just jumping to the race week,” continued Tsunoda. “But I mean, also this is a pretty different kind of driving style a little bit, so I don’t know but the only thing is downforce is a lot a lot lower.“So you can kind of slide more, bit more controllable. But for me, it was still a bit different and I guess it depends on the car as well, it depends on the team’s car, the concept of the car of each teams and I think the car so far, I didn’t find that super hard, so thanks for that team yeah.”
He doesn’t know what an easy car to drive even is. Tsunoda is of the view that the drivers still need to extract the maximum from a car, which is never an easy task. The Japanese driver reiterated that the downforce levels have made it more controllable, which somewhat makes it slightly easier.
Downforce Helps in Controlling the Car Better
“For me, I don’t know what’s easy like always finding lap time, milliseconds it’s always hard,” explained Tsunoda. “So what makes easy I don’t know but the harder things for me is the deployment strategy, the approach in Monza what I what I felt very hard.“Easy thing like I said, it’s lower downforce, so probably to hit the limit because more higher downforce you can carry more speed but once you’re off the limit, probably consequence is going to be a little bit bigger.
“So you have bit more margin or feel more comfortable to push slightly more aggressive side because it’s anyway lower downforce is slight kind of easy thing, so easier to probably feel the limit but at the same time it’s always hard it’s always a topic for driver to drive it within the limits for whole phase in the corner,” summed up Tsunoda, who doesn’t find it too stressful driving the 2026 F1 cars.