There is growing speculation that the FIA will make changes to the regulations concerning engine management in time for the Japanese Grand Prix.

The season opener got off to a dramatic start, with the Mercedes pair both struggling off the line having run out of electric power on the formation lap, and then George Russell enjoying a frantic cat and mouse scrap with Charles Leclerc for several laps before taking control of the race.

Ferrari's strategy aside, when the Italian cars did pit, despite much fresher rubber they were unable to make much of a dent in the Mercedes lead and were never really a threat.

There were battles throughout the field but the general consensus was that this wasn't racing and that the majority of the overtakes witnessed were artificial and down to energy management in that either one driver was passed whilst slowing to build energy, or releasing energy in order to pass.

At race end the majority of drivers were unhappy with the new rules, Charles Leclerc comparing it to Mario Kart, Max Verstappen hinting that he may look outside F1 for his thrills and Lando Norris opening questioning safety, not only of drivers but spectators and marshals, his fears given some weight by the start-line incident involving Liam Lawson and Franco Colapinto.

Curiously, the two drivers most vocal in throwing their full support behind the regulations were George Russell and Kimi Antonelli, who just happened to have finished first and second having locked-out the front row of the grid the day before.

"Yeah, well, he's always... I don't know," said Russell of Norris' negativity. "If he was winning, I don't think he'd be saying the same," he added.

On the other hand, his boss was a little more sympathetic.

"We tend to be very nostalgic and look at past events," said Toto Wolff. "We're all stakeholders of the sport," he added. "We need to have a great spectacle, the best cars in the world and the best drivers. Being exciting for the fans. That's why we just need to look at the product," he admitted.

"One perspective is the view of the drivers, which is an important perspective. But, Stefano would say that the single matrix that matters to him is whether the fans like it, that is what we need to look at. If it needs to be tweaked, if we need to adjust, I think we have the flexibility in Formula 1 to always take those decisions."

On social media fans were reacting, and for the most part it wasn't good.

One particular post by @F1 on X, was subsequently community noted, with the claim that "F1 is actively censoring the fans' opinion about the new regulations, as seen in "hidden replies.

The @F1 tweet in question declared "Action EVERYWHERE you looked" and was accompanied by a picture of Russell and Leclerc battling, along with the words "45 overtakes 2025 Australian GP - 120 overtakes 2026 Australian GP" superimposed on the track.... Sure enough, a quick click of the hidden replies icon revealed many dissatisfied customers.

This morning the FIA also hid replies to its post which declared the "First Grand Prix of the 2026 @F1 season completed: Australia. 23 more races to go!"

At a time the official F1 website and Netflix's Drive to Survive have been accused of avoiding controversy and only portraying the presumed positives of the sport, there have been claims that the lack of radio interactions between drivers and their teams over the weekend was down to the censoring of potentially negative comments.

All that aside, the FIA is understood to be looking at making changes after this weekend's race in China.

"We didn't believe it was realistic to make changes for energy management here," Single Seat Director, Nikola Tombazis told reporters in Melbourne. "We had a meeting with the teams about ten days ago, after the Bahrain tests, to review the matter.

"The teams' unanimous position was that we should stick to the current arrangements for the first few races and to review the matter when we have a bit more data," he added. "Our intention is after China to be reviewing the energy management situation.

"We have a few aces up our sleeves on that, which we didn't want to introduce ahead of the first race as a knee-jerk reaction, and which we will review with the teams after China."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by KKK, 3 hours ago

"It was lunacy to have so many changes, all at once. They should get rid of the glitzy push to pass and all the coasting to recharge the battery. Change the %ge of ice to 70% and battery 30%. It's just F1E. Let the drivers drive, foot to the floor. Can you imagine the farce at Spa or Monza? The Italians will be chucking tomatoes at them as they coast by!"

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2. Posted by Anthony, 4 hours ago

"Well change is certainly needed but it remains to be seen what they can do at this stage. Vast sums have been spent developing these new power trains so I can’t see anyone agreeing to the sort of fundamental changes that a lot of us would prefer to see. "

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3. Posted by Superbird70, 5 hours ago

"An old quote comes to mind, “Das is nicht einmal falsch” (“That is not even wrong”) .

Truly F1 is lost."

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FIA to act on energy management before Japan?

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