Former Components 1 driver David Coulthard has urged followers to present the brand new rules time earlier than making up their minds about them.
The 2026 season welcomed a brand new wave of rules into the championship, and to this point, the modifications have obtained a blended response from drivers and followers.
Whereas some have criticised the ‘synthetic’ overtaking, superclipping and the quantity the drivers should handle power deployment, others loved the thrilling opening laps of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, which included a tense battle between George Russell and Charles Leclerc for the lead.
The race in Melbourne consisted of 120 overtakes, compared to the 45 within the 2025 race.
“I used to be within the passport line leaving Australia with a man even older than me who was saying ‘I am achieved with Components 1. I do six grands prix a yr. I’ve received all of the Ferrari automobiles. I’ve received an RB17,’ which is a £5million automobile coming to him,” Coulthard mentioned throughout the Up To Pace podcast.
“So it is a high-end buyer, and he is going ‘I do not wish to see managers, I wish to see racers’. And I am going, ‘OK, I hear you, however let’s give it a while.’
George Russell, Mercedes, Isack Hadjar, Pink Bull Racing
Photograph by: Steven Tee / LAT Photos through Getty Photos
“If I sit again and have a look at it from my viewpoint, I actually loved the opening laps of the grand prix. They might go, then repass. The drivers have been determining find out how to use the instruments at their disposal. And has that not all the time been the case?
“When Cosworth got here with the DFV, it rewrote the principles of Components 1. Anybody who did not have an engine like that was like, neglect it. So, I feel we have to give it time.
“One of the best drivers will all the time be capable of utilise the instruments. I feel there are some fascinating techniques. Mercedes has in all probability given their prospects the knowledge fairly late. Why not? They are not within the enterprise of getting McLaren win, or their different prospects. So, as we all know in Components 1, issues change shortly. Let’s have this dialog once more in six months.”
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