Outside Line: Formula 1 in damage control mode as reality of new Power Units sinks in
F1 NewsTuesday, 10 March 2026 at 12:57
It's been amusing to watch Formula 1 go into cover-up mode, taking a leaf from the political putridness that engulfs the world and grabbing headlines of late, where elites simply do whatever they please.
If something is good news, the powers that be trumpet it from the mountains. If it is bad news, they throw everything at it to convince you that it is good. Formula 1 finds itself in that place.
I find it amusing. First because sport is so insignificant compared to what is happening in the real world as I write. There is an insane conflict unfolding in real-time that many have dubbed the Epstein War, largely because of cover-ups, the lies, and the endless manipulation of the narrative by those in power.
Of course, you cannot compare what is happening in Formula 1 with what could potentially escalate into a third world war, with many respected pundits even predicting Armageddon.
So (as hard as it is to do so) I will ignore that ominous fact for now and return to the more trivial: the shenanigans inside the paddock at Melbourne’s Albert Park, where Formula 1 fans were introduced to the new era at the 2026 season-opening Australian Grand Prix. The cars were running in anger for the first time.
And yes, the 2026 Formula 1 cars look beautiful. But the engines are rubbish. We are talking about power units costing about $2-million per pop and an estimated $20 to 25-million for teams to run per car. And that's not including the development and building costs, from blueprint to dyno forked, out by the manufacturers.
Do the maths. If I am spending that kind of money on an engine, I expect some basic things. When I press the button, at the very least, it should start with ease. It should be incredibly fast and torquey, plug-and-play, simple to maintain, loved by drivers, adored by mechanics, bullet-proof and pro-racing.
Is this not what a modern Formula 1 power unit is supposed to be?
From what we saw this weekend, it was a joke
Yes, there was racing during the Australian GP. But what kind of racing? Anti-racing? Video game? Slot-cars. That's all racing.
Read what Ollie Bearman said. I am not even going to go down the rabbit hole of explaining why F1 fans are upset. The truth is, people who know this sport have been concerned about this direction for a long time. Opting to be an optimist, I was late jumping onto that particular bandwagon.
But I have to admit and tip my hat to the lads in our team who got it right long ago, and I did not pay attention. But I always say, tech ain't my thing. So that's my excuse. They are right: This is not Formula 1.
What Bearman described. What Max Verstappen warned us about from day one. What all the others are saying overtly or between the lines. Apart from George Russell, Kimi Antonelli, and the Mercedes die-hards (are there any?) are happy about this. Formula 1 was never meant to be a video game.
When the benchmark driver on the grid is caught out with the fundamentals of the concept, we as fans and pundits have a right and duty to ask questions of FOM and FIA.
What were they thinking when they wrote these rules? Who rubber-stamped them? What committee decided this was the correct path for Formula 1? Who mandated that the sport should go down this road from which there is effectively no turning back?
Frankly, those people should be held accountable and moved far away from whatever positions they currently occupy because they have mandated an engine package that does not work. A formula that is anti-racing. Not Formula 1. Get the culprits out of there.
Laughably, if ever there was a moment when the Streisand effect took effect in our sport, it was this weekend, when Formula 1 suddenly realised it had to go into damage control mode at high speed. I have no receipts. I cannot prove anything. But there are only two possible explanations.
They even had Juan Pablo Montoya pimping for them on F1 TV
Either there was divine intervention, or there was an email from high up the F1 food chain instructing their minions to stop the narrative that this new formula is a flop. The minions even parroted the same words and phrases; it was so obvious.
If it were indeed divine intervention, it would mean that a select group of people (not many) around the paddock at Albert Park (and PR offices in London) suddenly received a message from the heavens and all simultaneously decided that what we had just witnessed was a spectacular new era of racing.
Montoya is someone I respect deeply. Met him briefly at Kyalami while I was covering testing in the early 2000s. Cool dude. I have always admired the way he races and the fact that he is never afraid to say what others will not. And honest too. I wish he had spent a decade longer in F1.
As a Latino, I understand Latinos; he is an emotional bloke, you see it in his face and body language, and how his eyes light up or darken when he speaks. We use his quotes a great deal on this site. I will continue to do so. For this clanger, he gets a pass.
Because even he was roped into selling the idea that we should not believe our eyes, while his body language screeched BS. He trumpeted too much, it has to be said, that what we witnessed on Sunday in Melbourne was Formula 1. Seriously Monty? You want your son driving these cars? This is the Formula 1 dream you guys had? Stay honest, dude.
The same with the F1 TV presenters, I normally enjoy watching. On this occasion, though, the entire conveyor belt of narrative management was so obvious that it became comical. And I was not the only one who noticed.
Was it you Stefano?
Go to the motorsport forums. Go into the comment sections of F1 websites, ours included. Everyone saw it. It looked like a cover-up being triggered, not only on F1 TV but also beaming the 'overtake' packed race onto TVs, through the UK and global Sky F1 feed. It seemed concerted and planned.
Was it really a message from the racing gods up in motorsport heaven, inspiring a few disciples to fix the exploding negative narrative? Or Stefano, was it you?
You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all the people all of the time. So what now? That is the real question. Because, for the foreseeable future, we are stuck with this. Whether we like these Power Units or loathe them, they are here to stay until the end of 2030.
But at the same time, Formula 1 has to fix this mess. Stefano should pull his head out of the sand and, with a proper emergency think tank including drivers, see what can be done with what we have. The goal must be to attain real racing rather than persist with this exercise in battery management, and the anti-racing we saw that comes with that.
I do not know exactly how they will do it. Time for everyone concerned to unite, admit things need to be sorted, step up to the plate and provide a solution, ASAP. Because five years of this is going to be a tough pill to swallow. I can't see the sport's biggest star, a racer through and through, already a driving god - Max Verstappen - sticking around for too long.
If Max goes because this is not what he signed up for, I will no longer turn down offers from those interested in buying this website. I will take my savings and go hang out at all his races. Maybe even start a new website dedicated to his exploits, and other F1 drivers that may defect too. Who knows?
Because what we experienced at the start of this new era, is not Formula 1 anymore.
What should Formula 1 do to rescue this Power Unit package?
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