Why China will be a ‘completely different story’ amid F1 rules fallout

After the fallout from the first race in Formula 1’s new era of regulations, we could see a “completely different story” at this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix.

F1’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix was overshadowed by criticism regarding the biggest rule change the world championship has undergone, which has polarised drivers and fans alike.

It was not a good look for F1 that leading drivers Max Verstappen and Lando Norris made such disparaging remarks about the new rules in public.

Reigning world champion Norris, who finished a distant fifth, one place ahead of Verstappen, warned that F1 is risking a “big accident” amid the “chaos” of adapting to the new rules.

Meanwhile Melbourne victor George Russell, who headed a dominant Mercedes one-two, urged critics to give the new rules a chance.

But things could look very different at the second round in China, because F1 is going from one of the worst tracks for energy recovery, to one of the best.

The Shanghai International Circuit offers plenty of heavy braking zones and medium-speed corners that should allow drivers to better recharge their batteries.

The Australian Grand Prix weekend was dominated by drivers requiring to lift and coast and downshift at full throttle, even during qualifying, in order to recover energy as the Albert Park circuit exposed the worst side of the new 2026 cars.

There is hope that things will be better in China, where for the first time, the maximum allowance of 9MJ of recharge is permitted.

F1’s governing body the FIA is confident that the layout of the Shanghai track will help showcase the best of the 2026 cars, despite some concerns being raised about the 1.1km backstraight.

"China will be a completely different story," Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur told media including Crash.net in Melbourne. “In terms of energy [deployment], it's almost the opposite [to Australia].”

Russell added: "The interesting thing with these regs is every track we go to, they're not always going to be like this.

"You know, we're going to Shanghai next where you've got one big, long straight, so the majority of drivers will be using their energy on that one straight.

"You don't need to divide it up between four like you do in Melbourne."

Mercedes team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli echoed Russell’s comments.

"It should be a much more straightforward race in terms of how you deploy the energy," the Italian teenager explained.

"[Australia] was very probably the hardest race to start the season because it's just so difficult on energy with so many straights one after the other.

“I think it was a massive learning for us drivers, for the team."

Sprint format adds further challenge

Adding an additional challenge into the mix is the fact China will host the first sprint race of the 2026 season.

Teams are still discovering how to get the best out of their new cars and engine deployment, so the last thing they need is having only a single hour of practice before the competitive action begins.

Following opening practice on Friday, drivers will head straight into qualifying for the sprint race.

This presents the teams with another difficult - and crucial - element to factor into what will already be a tricky weekend.

"I think it's going to be super crucial to be straight on top of everything, which will be extremely difficult," said Charles Leclerc, who completed the podium behind the Mercedes duo in Australia.

"I mean, that's what we've tried to do for this [Melbourne] weekend and even coming to the race we were not on top of everything.

"So, to have a Sprint race so early on in a season like this will be a huge challenge for everybody. It's going to be very tricky.”

Leclerc’s boss Vasseur added: "It was much easier when we started in Bahrain [testing].

"We were doing six days to be used to deal with the same track and to improve lap after lap. When you do 150 laps a day after six days, you have tonnes of opportunity to fine-tune.

"[China] will be different. We'll do FP1, 20 laps, and we'll have to go for the strategy of the qualy and the rest. This exercise will be difficult."