Max Verstappen at the Belgian Grand Prix: “Don’t moan, otherwise I’ll be under fire”

“Energy management is the Formula 1 ‘word of the year’ for 2026,” says Sky GP expert Timo Glock. And this ‘word of the year’ is used quite frequently in the Ardennes.

The brightest minds in the high-octane industry are struggling to work out how electrical energy should be harvested and released at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. Put simply: there aren’t enough corners to charge the battery sufficiently.

Four-time Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen explains it as follows after his brilliant drive to second on the grid, when asked what a qualifying lap feels like here with these power units.

Max says: ““Well, for most of Sector 2 you’re basically just driving on the internal combustion engine – so what’s that? 450 or 500 PS, give or take; so more or less what a Formula 3 car offers, but with Formula 1 downforce.”

“So you can imagine that it’s not exactly thrilling to drive, of course. But to be honest, I don’t want to sit here and moan again, because otherwise I’ll end up coming under fire.”

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“I just mentally adjust to what we’ve got here and try to make the best of it, even if it’s obviously not what I like about a racing car or what I love about Formula 1.”

“But I could just as easily be sitting at home not driving at all, and that wouldn’t do me any good either. It’s a different Spa to how it used to be, and at the end of the day, you just have to deal with it.”