Lance Stroll has launched the bluntest driver attack yet on Formula 1's 2026 regulations, calling the new generation of cars "fake" and claiming the Formula 3 machinery he drove during the recent five-week break was vastly more rewarding to handle.
Speaking to media after the Miami Grand Prix weekend, the Aston Martin driver, who has rarely engaged with the press in recent years, did not soften his verdict. He believes the new active-aero-and-energy package has stripped F1 cars of the things that made them special.
"It is like 1,000 times more fun and better to drive because you have your right foot. You give what you want and you get what you want," Stroll said of his recent F3 outing.
The contrast for him is stark when the foot returns to the new F1 cars. Stroll said the modern Formula 1 machine no longer has the visceral identity of a top-tier single-seater. They go "into a corner with no character or no noise. It is fake," he said.
Stroll's frustration extends well beyond feel. He thinks the rule set itself, even after the FIA's mid-season tweaks ahead of Miami, is rotten at its foundation.
"It is just destroying the racing, the qualifying laps," he said. "I think it is so fundamentally flawed, but I'm not an engineer, but it is just sad that we're in this situation now."
He added that the cars are still "miles off" where F1 should be even after the latest adjustments to the energy-deployment ladder, and that drivers can expect no quick salvation. "I'd say we'll have to live with these rules for the next three or four years," Stroll said.
The criticism arrives at an awkward moment for Formula One Management. Sold-out grandstands, growing US viewership and the noise around Kimi Antonelli's three straight wins have given the championship a commercial answer to the ongoing technical complaints. But the trickle of drivers prepared to publicly question the racing product is widening, with George Russell, Max Verstappen and Pierre Gasly all having criticised the cars in different ways earlier this season.
Stroll's intervention is different. He has framed the entire sport as inauthentic, contrasting it with junior categories that, by definition, are simpler, lighter and less reliant on energy management. The optics of an F1 driver saying that an F3 car gave him more enjoyment than his multi-million-dollar development teammate's vehicle are not lost on Aston Martin's commercial partners.
For the team itself, the timing also collides with one of the higher-profile internal stories of the year. Adrian Newey was confirmed earlier this week as missing several races after being hospitalised, leaving Stroll to face the press at a moment when the design hierarchy at Silverstone is in flux. Stroll has reportedly preferred recent F3 testing to time on the Aston Martin simulator, a setup he has long been sceptical of.
What he has not done is moderate the message. With the FIA's six-point fix list still working its way through the system and Toto Wolff among the team principals telling critics to "hide" after Antonelli's Miami win, Stroll's verdict cuts against the official line.
"It is fake," he said.
Two words that the championship cannot easily un-hear, and one of the louder reminders that not every driver believes the 2026 rules are racing's future.
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*Originally published on [News Formula 1](https://newsformula.one/article/lance-stroll-2026-f1-fake-f3-1000-times-more-fun). Visit for full coverage.*
