Max Verstappen has revealed which era of Formula 1 cars he would like to see the sport revert to when it begins its next regulation era.
2026 will see the dawn of perhaps the most radical set of technical regulations F1 has seen, with a number of changes that could alter the status quo.
In comes a 50-50 ICE-electric V6 hybrid, along with the outlawing of DRS and aerodynamic differences, already giving teams and drivers a significant challenge.
Longstanding speculation and conversation within the sport has seen a desire from many circles to return to engines from a previous era, with V8s the most-recently mooted.
Verstappen has voiced many opinions on F1 in recent times, many of them signalling his stance as a traditionalist, longing for some of the more bygone aspects no longer seen today.
One area that has plagued the traditionalists since the current era began has been the increasing size and weight of the cars, which has rendered some older circuits harder to overtake on.
Verstappen addressed this to media including Motorsport Week before last weekend’s Italian Grand Prix, and gave an indication as to which sort of previous F1 car he’d like to see return.
“What is most important is lighter cars, smaller cars,” he said. “But you can only really do that if you change the engine regulations.
“At the moment, the engines are super efficient, but they are also quite big. That makes the car longer, you need more cooling, so the car becomes quite big.
“I think if we can get a similar type of car like they were in the 2010 era, or even before, that would be nice, because I think it will help the racing.
“But at the end of the day, I’m not the one deciding.”
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