"We saw it coming," says Canadian of F1 2026, "it's just what we got, what we expected to have."

Following on from the 'muzzling' of Lando Norris last week, on arrival in Miami the majority of drivers appear, publicly at least, to be in favour of the "refinements" to the regulations, though admitting that it will take time to see what impact they have.

However, probably because he has no need to kowtow to his team boss or sponsors, Lance Stroll has come out all guns blazing.

Asked about the "refinements" announced last week, the Aston Martin driver told reporters: "Hopefully, it's better with all this stuff that's just destroying the racing and the qualifying laps. Hopefully it's a bit more normal to drive.

"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," he continued. "But I think we're still far away from proper F1 cars and pushing flat out without thinking about batteries and all this stuff. We're miles off of where we should be."

While Stefano Domenicali dismisses criticism, insisting that fans of a certain vintage obstinately look back on previous eras with rose-coloured spectacles, Stroll clearly feels that it is the F1 CEO who has got it wrong.

"We had time off in the break. I was randomly watching old races and stuff," he said. "I even had the Monaco Historique on the TV and I heard some Ferrari cars from the early 2000s and how good they sounded and how small and nimble. There were some onboards I saw from the early or even mid-2000s in the V8 era, V10 era. And then what it looks like versus now. You hear what it's like now and the character of the cars and 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.

"F1's not so fun to drive," he sighed. "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!"

However, it's not just the remainder of this season the Canadian fears for, he is concerned that fans face several years of frustration until the next overhaul of the regulations.

"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.

"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 if he found several more years of energy management frustrating, the response was instant.

"It is," he said, "but we saw it coming. 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."

So do we Lance, so do we.