Lewis Hamilton rips 'ridiculously complicated' F1 rules overhaul as pre-season testing begins in Bahrain
Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton has fired up over the all-new F1 rules regulations as pre-season testing got underway in Bahrain.
The Bahrain test represents the first formal track running for the all-new 2026 cars, which are smaller, boast more electrical power, and look much different to last year.
For the first time, the cars are powered equally by the combustion engine and electric motor. Drivers can press a button to activate an 'overtake mode' to deploy extra electrical power to aid in an overtake, while pushing another to flatten both the front and rear wings - similar to DRS from seasons past.
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Hamilton said the new rules were "ridiculously complicated", and "none of the fans are going to understand it".
Lewis Hamilton is not a fan of F1's new rules package. NurPhoto via Getty Images
"I sat in a meeting the other day and they're taking us through it. And yeah, it's like you need a degree to fully understand it all," he said per the BBC.
The way the car collects electrical power and charges the battery has also changed, which is expected to lead to unusual driving techniques and strategies.
Hamilton suggested that will be particularly apparent at tracks with few heavy braking zones. He revealed during qualifying simulations during the pre-season shakedown in Barcelona, he was doing about 600m of lift-and-coast - that is lifting off the throttle but not braking - at the end of the long straight.
"That's not what racing is about," he said.
Hamilton in Ferrari's 2026 car. NurPhoto via Getty Images
Hamilton is heading into his second season with Ferrari, and will start the season with a new race engineer. In 2025, the 41-year-old failed to stand on the podium in any grand prix for the first time in his career while working with Ricardo Adami.
But Adami's replacement, Carlo Santi, will also only be temporary until a permanent, with a full-time replacement expected to start later in the year. Santi was Kimi Räikkönen's race engineer when the Finn claimed the Scuderia's most recent world championship in 2007.
"It's actually quite a difficult period because it's not long-term," Hamilton said.
"The solution that I currently have is only going to be a few races. Early on into the season, it's going to be switching up again.
Oscar Piastri at the wheel of McLaren's new challenger. NurPhoto via Getty Images
"I'll have to learn to work with someone new. That's detrimental to me, too. A season where you want to arrive with people that have done multiple seasons, that have been through thick and thin and calm.
"It is the situation that I'm faced with and I'll try to do the best I can. The team is trying to do the best they can to help make it as seamless as possible."
Having driven in the first half of the opening day in Bahrain, under sunny skies, Hamilton set the seventh-fastest time of the day, 1.7 seconds behind pace-setter Lando Norris, who set his time under lights late in the day.
Oscar Piastri was fifth, having also driven in the afternoon.
