F1 drivers “at the mercy of what’s behind” as they’re “not in control” of deployment

Reigning Formula 1 world champion Lando Norris says drivers are ‘not in control’ of how the power unit deploys energy, leaving them “at the mercy of what’s behind”.

Those comments come in the wake of the series’ first major incident related to the new-for-2026 power units at the Japanese Grand Prix.

Ollie Bearman suffered a fast crash at Suzuka’s Spoon Curve after being forced into avoiding Franco Colapinto, who was going 45km/h slower than the British driver.

The FIA took no action on the incident, while Haas has pinned the blame squarely on the difference in speed due to Colapinto’s Alpine harvesting energy at that point.

The incident was one drivers have repeatedly warned about, forming one of the many points of discussion between the FIA and key stakeholders on potential changes to the rules for May’s Miami Grand Prix.

‘This is just not how it should be’

McLaren’s Lando Norris hadn’t seen the incident when he spoke to the media, but noted that he severall similar moments during a battle with Lewis Hamilton in the grand prix.

He then went on to explain how energy deployment is largely out of drivers’ control from lap to lap, leaving them “at the mercy” of much faster cars behind.

“I mean, you have two sides of it,” he began, when asked about what changes need to be made to the rules.

“From a race point of view, we have more of the safety side, which might have been the cause of today.

“There’s the racing point of view, and honestly, some of the racing… I didn’t even want to overtake Lewis, it’s just the battery deploys when I don’t want it to deploy, and I can’t control it.

“So, I overtake him, and then I have no battery, so he just flies past. This is not racing. This yo-yoing, even if he says it’s not.

“When you are at the mercy of what the power unit delivers… the drivers should be in control of it, at least, and we’re not.

“So, qualifying was better yesterday compared to what it has been.

“Of course, there have been some better tracks, some worse tracks, they made some improvements - it can still be further improved. We just want to go flat out.

“I don’t want to be lifting here and losing 60kph from 130R to the last corner. Most other categories will have a higher top speed than us.

“Some things can be improved, but the FIA knows that. I hope they can do it. Yes, the racing can look great on TV, but the racing inside the car is certainly not as authentic as it should be.”

He added: “It’s normally in overtake mode. The problem is it deploys into 130R. I have to lift or else I’ll drive into him.

“And I’m not allowed to go back on throttle: when I go back on throttle, my battery deploys and I don’t want it to because it should have cut.

“But because you lift and you have to go back on, it redeploys. There’s nothing I can do about it.

“There’s just not enough control for the driver, and that’s why you’re just too much at the mercy of what’s behind you. That’s just not how it should be.”