Lando Norris has laid out his blueprint for how he believes F1 can fix its racing product – by returning to go-karting principles.
The reigning F1 champion has been one of the strongest critics of the new rules for the 2026 season, although steps have been taken to implement immediate changes for the remainder of this campaign before more radical changes are brought in for 2027 – such as a change in the 50-50 power output split between the ICE and the 350kw batteries.
The decision to chase an equal split was a core block of the current rules cycle, with the belief that this could attract new manufacturers to F1, with Audi and Honda committing to works programmes, whilst General Motors is developing its own power unit for 2029 and Ford is a technical partner to Red Bull Powertrains.
To compensate for a lack of pure grunt from the engine, cars have now been fitted with active aerodynamics to shed drag on the straights, but McLaren’s Norris believes F1 cars need a fundamental shake-up in their design, as he outlined exactly what he would do to create better racing.
“We just have to give our input honestly, and we want the fans to have a good time, and we want ourselves to have a good time, and we also want F1 to be what we’ve always grown up seeing, which is flat-out racing, which is not what we’ve had so far,” Norris told media, including ApexF1News.
“Having good racing is not necessarily having someone at 100% battery and having someone on zero; that’s not how proper racing should be done. It should be done by trying to allow cars to follow closer, have less weight, better tyres and be more resilient to following, not by implementing your batteries and wings to do all the stuff that we’re doing now.
“It is something as drivers that we’re all pushing for because of the bigger picture, because you have manufacturers involved and it is a business, so it is not so simple, but hopefully over the next five years or so, things can go back to normality.
“We can create even better racing, like in go-karting, you have no dirty air, you have no downforce, that is the purest racing you can get, but you also don’t have an ERS pack or batteries, which just do what they want.
“Now, we have yo-yo racing, you can’t debate it, but we want it to be more like go-karting in those early days where you can follow on the bumper, you’re slipstreaming and have 22 cars in a big long line, and you’re racing like that.
“That is what we want as drivers, and what we want as drivers will be better for the fans. It is a business at the end of the day, so you have to balance the business side, but we’re making progress.
“The FIA is doing a good job in trying to improve things.”
