The F1 of the absurd, now the drivers are afraid to defend themselves: “You want to do it, but you’re worried about those behind”

Problem after problem Formula 1 in these first three races of 2026, with the new technical regulations just introduced, seems to have truly completely lost its original nature. Superclipping which drops the speed by around 50 km/h in a straight line and with the accelerator pressed to maximum, or the software which ‘interprets’ in their own way the moments in which the drivers leave the accelerator for an instant and decide autonomously when to give or cut the power, forcing those in the cockpit to passively suffer sudden drops in thrust, were not enough. The latest news – which emerged in Suzuka following the frightening accident of Ollie Bearman who had to ‘dodge’ Franco Colapinto’s Alpine in front of him when it was in a phase of recovering energy – is that the riders are now afraid to defend themselves. Alex Albon confessed this, speaking to journalists and revealing that this is actually becoming a topic of discussion in briefings between the riders and also in their ‘messages’ on the now famous WhatsApp chat that brings them all together. The Williams standard bearer explained that “we are talking about these things precisely during the drivers’ briefing – regarding the approach speeds [a un altra vettura]defense, maneuvers and all these things. At the moment all this seems really strange.” The danger of the defense But what is the fear of the drivers? That a defensive action that may be harsh but perfectly legal and regular, such as a change of trajectory made in the middle of the straight to protect the inside of the corner in an approaching braking section, turns into a very dangerous move due to an excess of power from the car behind or – vice versa – a cut in power from the car in front. A collision like this, with a high speed delta, could have tragic consequences. “You want to defend yourself, but sometimes you’re worried about the car behind – explained Albon – maybe we just need to make the SM mode (i.e. when the cars travel with the front and rear wings open) a little more stable, or less powerful. Something like that. Or maybe make it more similar to a normal DRS that can be controlled quite easily.” In practice now Formula 1 drivers are forced to be afraid of doing what they do this job for, that is, trying to prevent those following them from overtaking. And apparently the only way to solve this problem is… to go back to the wings mode which was deliberately canceled from the current regulation. Curtain.