"That's not what Formula 1 should be about," says four-time world champion, as he describes contemporary F1 as "anti-racing".

Having scored his best result of the year, and enjoyed a scrap with his former nemesis, one would have thought that Max Verstappen would be grinning from ear to ear. Think again.

The Dutchman remains concerned by the regulations for 2027, and following his claim on Saturday that, under the proposed regulations, F1 was not "not mentally doable", in post-race interviews he doubled down.

Asked post-race about the proposed 60/40 split, he told Sky: "That's the minimum.

"The thing is, I know how pure other motorsports can feel like, you know?" he continued, having raced at the Nurburgring just seven days earlier. "So then when you come back to this, it's just, not very nice.

"I don't want to be too negative now after a race like this," he added, "but I know what it feels like to drive pure racing cars and pure overtakes, pure racing and just natural driving.

"This is all a bit like... very anti-driving, anti-racing, and that's not what Formula 1 should be about. So I really hope that next year we can get that 60/40 because that will naturally help everything a bit."

Even the battle with Hamilton did little to temper his feelings.

"I've been racing different kind of cars," he said in the post-race press conference, "and especially last week, that reminds me how pure motorsport can be and how great the racing can be.

"So, yeah, when I come back into Formula 1, the thing is of course here, especially most of the drivers, we're the best in the world. So even if you would give us a rental car, we'll give you a good show and we'll race each other very hard and well. So it has nothing to do in that sense with the rules.

"For me, while driving, it's all a bit confusing," he said of the current rules. "It's not what Formula 1 should be about. It's way too complex, all of this. Most of the rules, the fans don't even know what we are dealing with while driving, what is allowed when you're behind or when you're the car ahead, what we have to do on a formation lap or what we have to do in an out-lap, or how much battery that we're allowed to charge.

"All these things are just such a shame that we have to deal with all these things. For me F1 just needs to be more pure and I really hope that what they try to do next year will go through because I think that is necessary, the minimum necessary, to make it a bit more natural and a bit more back to normal, or at least a bit more pure racing.

"But like I said, as drivers, give us any kind of car, we'll always race and give a good entertainment or a good show. Doesn't matter, people say, 'Oh, but look now, the show is great, the cars were fighting', but it has nothing to do with the car. It just needs to be more pure."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Spindoctor, 9 hours ago

"I'm not really convinced by Max's complaints, which, although largely correct, also sound like sour grapes. Yes the electrical gubbins is very complex & yes it interferes with the racing, but the Ground Effect era was hardly a paragon of 'pure racing' either.

From the outset of Ground Effect, Max benefitted hugely from Newey's brilliant design. Newey's car was by far the fastest & its characteristics suited Max's driving style. Lucky boy!

However these cars did not really drive like 'pure' racing cars. Their worst characteristic was that unless the core design was good, no 'upgrades' seemed to improve them much. For most of the era they were ultra-sensitive to set-up, which was inconsistent track to track, with abrupt changes between aero & mechanical grip, hyper-sensitivity to ride-height, unpredictable behaviour in different types of corners etc. That's all before we consider the tyres....
Compared to the previous generations of cars they presented drivers with a different & quite nasty set of problems, most of which were endemic & could not be fixed by driving around them but required several 'return to the drawing board' iterations before most cars were meaningfully competitive with RBR."

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2. Posted by Editor, 10 hours ago

"Before the race they usually show a shot from inside the commentary box.

With all the live cameras Sky is always on about I wish they'd fit two in the commentary box, one focussed on 'Crofty' and the other to catch the reactions of those present.

He was in danger of giving himself a hernia on Sunday."

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3. Posted by Motorsport-fan, 10 hours ago

"Managed to get through 20 minutes of youtube highlights even with Croftys shouting, the deployment and regen is still clearly ruining the racing, looks good for the overtakes but is just false, I fear as Max is alluding to, I do not think 60/40 is going to eliminate the problem, 90/10 - 80/20 possibly but its just tinkering with an issue that should not be there, there is a long way to go before we see "pure" racing again. "

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4. Posted by Hobgoblin, 11 hours ago

"he does have a point
"

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5. Posted by RP, 22 hours ago

"We've all heard the saying that "a camel is a horse designed by committee." Well, comparing F1 today to years gone by, we can see the conversion to the camel. In the past, if a engine manufacturer had some design problems (e.g Honda) they didn't have to lug the same engine to each race for the season, development work continued apace. Same for the chassis. And, diversity, it was all very interesting. The drivers hopped in and drove like h**l the whole race. Now you have Domenicali saying F1 has no problems. Drivers should shut up and drive. Only the most sophisticated fans have technical complaints. The effort is to make all engines the same. Limiting development. The money in F1 is up what, 53% in the first quarter. I can't blame a driver, and many have spoken out, if they want to go somewhere else and race instead of driving around in a rolling video game. Those resonsible should keep quiet about the fans and drivers who recognize a camel when they see one."

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6. Posted by BillH, 25/05/2026 19:46

"@Chester, the Indy 500 was interesting from start to finish and had such a dramatic finish with none of this cars slowing down nonsense as seen on the straight leading to the pits at Canada.
As for Mr Verstappen's comments, we all know that rental cars are the fastest cars in the world (particularly on the way back from the ski field in Central Otago Lakes District in New Zealand) so it would be great to watch the current drivers hammering rental cars around say Monaco."

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7. Posted by Burton, 25/05/2026 17:50

"Well said, Mr. V."

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8. Posted by Chester, 25/05/2026 16:23

"Fully agree. Watched the Indy 500 yesterday, and while I shuddered at the beginning thinking it would last all day, I loved it.
My wife and I watched Montreal delayed, and she remarked "what will happen next?" in not a good way.

I am left befuddled with the racing. There is unexpected action, but it is NOT akin to a lost fumble in American football as the runner nears the goal line (a true turn of events driven by athletes trying their best). Rather it appears happenstance and luck (for lack of a better word).

For entertaining a toddler, it is certainly a major success. Lots of action. "

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9. Posted by kenji, 25/05/2026 13:56

"Ten out of ten. Max has the correct outlook and the 'cachet' to give his statements impetus. I do certainly hope that he gets unqualified support from his contemporaries. He rightly calls out the complexity of these cars and no doubt wishes for a return to 'real racing' with 'real engines'. That would be most welcome. "

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Verstappen continues to criticise regulations

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