Formula 1 has made a ropy start to its latest ruleset, the 50-50 split of battery power to internal combustion power far from universally popular.
Energy starvation from the batteries has led to bizarre phenomena such as superclipping with cars slowing down on straights while the driver is that full throttle.
Harvesting has been particularly tough on the qualifying spectacle, with drivers no longer pushing to the grip limit, while a significant uptick in overtaking during races has been labelled by many as artificial.
Much of the criticism has come from the driver group, although the booming fan base also has significant factions that are unsatisfied with the product.
F1 has already acted after the first three races of the season with changes to be introduced ahead of the Miami Grand Prix to reduce the effect of harvesting and superclipping.
Whether the changes will solve these issues, however, won’t be clear until trialled in the real world.
McLaren has been one of the team’s worst affected by the introduction of the new rules, going from winning two constructors’ world championships on the bounce in 2024 and 2025 to being out-classed by Mercedes and Ferrari this year.
Still, McLaren CEO Brown is backing the new rules, urging they be given time to bed in and citing the competitiveness at the end of the outgoing engine regulations.
“We’re three races into it,” he said.
“I appreciate everyone gets excited when there’s new technology, new rules, new cars. I know we all like to kind of, Race 1, be a bit dramatic.
“Here we are going into Race 4 and we’ve now made some substantial changes that I think will be a good improvement. Whether we need to continue in that direction, let’s wait and see.
“I think it was the same noise as the hybrid era and that turned out to be just fine. And towards the tail end – obviously we don’t want to wait 10 years – but I think it was the most competitive Formula 1 ever.”
The radical shift in power unit philosophy has been questioned given the global popularity of F1, with concerns that fans could lose interest in what has been dubbed ‘battery racing’.
Brown, however, warned the industry of not conflating driver concerns regarding the spectacle with the reaction of the global TV audience.
“It’s interesting on pit wall. I understand the drivers’ reaction, but then you actually watch it on TV,” he said.
“I can’t remember an Australian Grand Prix where the lead changed hands four or five times over two three laps.
“So I actually think on television it’s been very exciting. The way the drivers have raced to pass each other four or five times, they’ve not been happy with it, but that actually doesn’t translate on TV.
“So I think the races have been very exciting, and I think we’ve taken corrective action [with the rule changes] to hopefully accomplish both, which is to continue with the exciting television coverage, and have the drivers feel like they’ve got a Formula 1 car underneath their butt.”
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