Nigel Mansell, the man who once bullied 1,000-horsepower monsters around the track, has come out swinging in defense of the grid’s current stars, backing a growing backlash against Formula 1’s latest technical direction.
The 1992 world champion has thrown his full support behind Max Verstappen and Lando Norris in the wake of the pair’s recent criticism of the sport’s 2026 regulations which, in the eyes of many drivers, are strangling the very essence of racing.
For Mansell, the sight of the world’s best drivers easing off the throttle to manage battery life isn't just frustrating – it’s an insult to the craft.
Speaking to Reuters at Silverstone on Tuesday, the former Williams and Ferrari driver made his stance crystal clear
"I've got to echo and support the drivers 100%," he stated. "It's very disappointing to have the stallion of all racing cars, Formula 1, appearing in the first races that they're not actually racing at times.
“That's very alien to the fans, certainly alien to a race car driver who's trying to input their special skills into it."
The grievance centers on a power unit split that forces drivers to "coast" into corners rather than attacking them. It turns a sprint into a data-entry exercise, a shift that Mansell finds fundamentally at odds with the sport's identity.
A warning to the powers that be
While Verstappen’s rhetoric has been characteristically blunt, Mansell suggests the frustration is universal across the paddock.
"And I have total sympathy with Max. Would I have voiced it as strong as he has? Perhaps not...but you know, what Lando says is perfect. What all the others have said is true. And I think the powers that be, they're listening," Mansell remarked.
The FIA is currently under immense pressure to fix the math before the season slips away. With a string of emergency technical meetings on the horizon, the racing legend warned that half-measures won't suffice.
"Hopefully, they will tweak it enough (so) that what we've been witnessing in the first couple of races won't be carried forward into the next races," he said.
Despite the regulatory mess, Mansell’s eyes are firmly on a 41-year-old Lewis Hamilton, who is currently finding a second wind at Ferrari. If the "coasting" stops, Mansell believes history could still be rewritten.
"I'm sorry, I'm biased about Lewis. I think he's fantastic, what he's achieved is monumental," the 72-year-old said.
"If he's given the goods to do the job, I still think he can win. And I think he has all the capabilities to win another world championship, which will be epic."
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Mansell’s final demand was a simple plea for authenticity over engineering gimmicks.
"I think you'll see he's got fire in his belly more now than ever,” he concluded. “I think Ferrari could do extremely well this year once everyone stops coasting all the time and we can have proper racing again.
“Let Formula 1 be Formula 1 as it has been. It just needs tweaking. As long as they tweak it enough, happy days."
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