Max Verstappen, Red Bull, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, 2026

Max Verstappen says Formula 1 must significantly change its power units next season if he is to stay in the series.

The Red Bull driver welcomed the FIA’s announcement it will change the balance of power generation in its 2027 regulations. However he said the planned move to a 60-40 share of power between the combustion engine and the battery must be “the minimum that they try to get to for next year”.

Verstappen has been one of the most outspoken critics of F1’s 2026 rules. Before the Canadian Grand Prix he took part in the Nuerburgring 24 Hours which he said provided a much more satisfying driving challenge.

“The thing is, I know how pure other motor sports can feel like,” he told Sky. “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, but I know what it feels like to drive pure racing cars: pure overtakes, pure racing and just natural driving.

“This is all a bit – especially qualifying – 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.”

The Red Bull driver scored his best result of the season so far in Montreal, finishing third behind Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Lewis Hamilton. Verstappen, who started the race from sixth, said he didn’t expect such a strong result.

“Of course because of the retirement of George, normally the two Mercedes cars would have taken off. But for us of course [it’s a] positive result.

“I think on the soft [tyre] we were a little bit more competitive, on the medium I just couldn’t generate the tyre temp[erature] that we needed around here and that didn’t give us the good feeling on the tyres,” he explained. “They were just never really gripping, they were never in the window, and I think that’s why on that stint it was just a bit more difficult for us.

“Nevertheless, I think we had a good result for us to be on the podium.”

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Keith Collantine

Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 – when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring journalist, Keith began running the site full-time in 2010, achieving a long-held ambition to dedicate his full attention to his passion for motor racing. View all posts by Keith Collantine