When former F1 team principal Guenther Steiner sat down to watch the season-opening 2026 Australian Grand Prix, he could not quite believe what he was watching.

While some newer fans loved the yo-yo overtaking at Albert Park, hardcore observers were shocked by the immediate visual impact of the sport’s controversial new regulations.

The move to make cars a 50-50 balance between ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) and electrical power came with howls of derision with drivers forced to lift and coast in qualifying and the dreaded ‘super-clipping’ becoming a regularly used phrase.

Four-time world champion Max Verstappen was particularly withering in his criticism, describing it as ‘Formula E on steroids’.

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How did F1 allow this to happen?

Steiner spoke about that shocking moment on the Up To Speed podcast, and asked the simple question: How did F1 allow this to happen?

He revealed: “I was surprised in Australia – because you know how well F1 normally prepares themselves – when I say Australia it was like ‘wow, I didn’t expect this’.

“This is all possible to simulate what is happening – not 100 percent but 95 percent. But to start up like that I was surprised. They got immediately for Miami but why we didn’t start off on a level like Miami, that’s what surprised me.

“Because it wasn’t difficult to do, it’s just fine-tuning some stuff. Formula 1 is good in adapting, they see this is not perfect, they need to adjust it and I think it’s the right way to go.”

Timing crucial when analysing 2026 regs

They say timing is everything in life and Steiner believes it has much to do with why these new regulations (announced in 2022, ratified in 2024) were implemented. Put simply, what we know we did not know then.

He continued: “You always have to think back to when these regulations were invented, we all thought the future of the car is electric, and that didn’t happen. I think the future of electric will happen, but not as we maybe expected five years ago to take over 100 percent. There will be a choice of technologies.”

Steiner does believe F1 will adapt and get to a better place, and outlined how and why that might happen.

“So maybe the next rules will be different with sustainable fuels – why do we bother too much about electricity if we can have sustainable fuel, which is net zero anyway.

“Five years ago, when these rules were decided, we didn’t know what we know now. I think now the next decision will be based on our knowledge now.

“The good thing with Formula 1, it always adapts and finds solutions. There is money, there is bright people – when you’ve got two things like this, it’s easy to get out of a hole.”

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Related

Young Alpine star Franco Colapinto has given a full-throated defence of controversial team executive Flavio Briatore.

The flamboyant Italian is famously hyper-competitive, with a ruthless streak a mile wide, but Colapinto insisted in a recent interview that teams like Alpine ‘need’ a figure like Briatore if they’re to compete with the big boys.

The 23-year-old told Motorsport.com a story from earlier in the season at the Canadian Grand Prix to demonstrate Briatore’s relentless drive for more, revealing that the team’s ‘executive advisor’ [translation: team principal in all but name] was ‘not happy at all’ after the team picked up a good points haul for finishing sixth and eighth.

Colapinto went on to say that Briatore’s style of putting pressure on his team even when things are going well is ‘a way of succeeding in F1’, adding that he believes he has a similar mentality to the ‘competitive animal’ running his team.

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Alpine star: You need a Flavio to catch Ferrari and Mercedes

“I believe in his process,” the Argentine said. “You have to understand him. But I think to succeed in F1 and to achieve the goal that every midfield team has – to catch Ferrari, Red Bull, Mercedes and McLaren – you need someone like Flavio.”

He continued: “We finished P6 and P8 in Canada, those were amazing points for the team, but after the race Flavio was not happy at all and kept pushing the team. He was almost the most unhappy person within the whole team.

“That was because of how far off Ferrari we were compared to Miami. He wanted to understand why that was. Everyone was really happy with the points, but he was like, no no, I want more. I don’t like where we are and Racing Bulls is too close to us as well. They are closer than they were in Miami, so why is that happening? I want answers and I want to improve more.”

“To put that pressure on the team, even when things go right, it’s his way of leading the team. And in my personal view, it’s a way of succeeding in F1 and catching the top teams.

“Flavio is a competitive animal. He only came back to Formula 1 to win and I really appreciate that because I’m the same.”

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