The opening stages of the 2026 F1 season have seen regulations concerns amongst drivers, yet Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto believes that drivers will ultimately have to adapt to the new era of racing, while the FIA refines the rules.
Ahead of the 2026 F1 Miami GP, Formula 1, the FIA, and stakeholders approved a number of adjustments aimed at improving racing quality in qualifying, race starts, race conditions, and wet-weather running. Several teams, including Red Bull, McLaren, and Ferrari, also introduced upgrades that have eased some of the early-season issues.
However, before these changes, several drivers publicly criticized the rules and their impact. Max Verstappen commented that, under the new regulations, “it’s really anti-driving,” while Lando Norris described them as “chaos” and “artificial.”
More generally, drivers often pointed to difficulties with battery deployment, racing quality, overtaking, and wheel-to-wheel- “yo-yo” battles.
Bortoleto on adapting to the new regulations
When asked during the 2026 F1 Miami GP media day whether he understands the regulation frustration of the more experienced drivers, like Verstappen, Bortoleto shared:
“We are all drivers. We always want to drive the fastest cars possible, you know. I don’t think it’s only them that want to see an improvement on the regulations. I think everyone is aligned on that. Some people are more vocal about it, some people are more careful with what they say. There is no right or wrong, there is just people’s opinion and I think everyone should be able to give their opinions.”
He added: “I understand, you know, coming from a regulation that was like almost perfection, in the sense that cars were well developed, engines were well developed. We were fighting each other on track with pure overtakes and everything and coming to a new concept of regulations this year, I feel like we all need to adapt to that.”
The Brazilian driver also acknowledges some of the challenges that the new rules have created, specifically highlighting safety concerns. Drivers have already experienced several unpredictable racing incidents, such as Ollie Bearman’s 50G crash in Suzuka.
“So far a few things have not been enjoyable. We have seen a few overtakes that caused some incidents and I think we are all worried about it. But I think FIA is taking actions to improve that,” he said.
Learning about the new generation of cars
Further discussing the learning process behind F1’s new cars, Bortoleto explained how drivers can only fully understand overtaking and energy deployment in real racing conditions rather than through simulator work.
“I think, again, racing is racing and you can only learn about it when you are fighting other people. In the simulator it is difficult to simulate overtakes and things like this because you are doing it by yourself. You don’t have any cars around you.
“But I don’t know, you can always learn the concept of the overtakes. How to use the energy button, how to not use it, how to save it, where to not use it because then you are going to get overtaken in the next race, things like this,” he concluded.
