Pouhon used to separate the committed from the cautious. Now, Max Verstappen says Spa’s famous double left-hander is flat partly because the electrical power disappears before the car has finished turning.
The Red Bull driver qualified 2nd for the Belgian Grand Prix, 0.317 seconds behind Kimi Antonelli. His concern after the session was not simply the gap to Mercedes. Verstappen argued that the 2026 power units had changed how drivers experience one of Formula 1’s greatest circuits.
Drivers tackled much of Sector 2, relying only on the combustion engine after the battery stopped deploying. Verstappen estimated that the engine was producing around 450 to 500 horsepower at that point. He compared the sensation with Formula 3 power attached to Formula 1 downforce. That was Verstappen’s description rather than a precise comparison between the categories.
Antonelli and Lando Norris felt the same change. All 3 drivers agreed that Pouhon no longer presented the challenge they remembered.
Pouhon Has Lost Some Of Its Bite
Formula 1’s new power units produce roughly half their output through electrical energy. The combustion engine generates around 400 kilowatts, while the electrical system can provide as much as 350 kilowatts.
Those figures explain why the loss of electrical deployment feels so dramatic inside the cockpit. Once the battery stops assisting, the driver remains at full throttle but loses a huge part of the car’s acceleration. Downforce still presses the machine into the asphalt, leaving it planted through the corner even as the engine’s punch fades.
At Pouhon, Antonelli said electrical deployment ended after the apex. Without that extra shove, he could keep his foot down through the rest of the corner. Norris was even more direct, saying Pouhon no longer felt like a proper corner.
Verstappen described a similar sensation across a wider part of the circuit. The car enters with the grip of a Formula 1 machine, but the power suddenly falls away. Rather than controlling wheelspin or balancing the rear tyres against hard acceleration, the driver waits for a car that feels muted beneath him.
Spa makes the issue especially visible. The circuit contains long periods at full throttle, leaving fewer heavy braking zones in which drivers can recharge the battery. Teams must carefully distribute electrical energy across the lap, sometimes at the expense of the speed and commitment that once defined its fastest sections.
Verstappen summed up the change by calling it “a different Spa” before adding that he had mentally adjusted. His response captured both the frustration and the reality facing every driver. The track feels different, but the stopwatch still demands adaptation.
Verstappen Stops Short Of Another Rules Fight
The most striking moment came when Verstappen was asked to explain what driving his favourite circuit now felt like.
After describing the reduced power through Sector 2, he stopped himself from launching into another extended attack on the regulations. Instead, Verstappen joked that “someone outside this door will shoot me” if he criticised Formula 1 again, a dry reference to the attention and backlash that often follow his attacks on the sport’s technical direction.
Nothing in his answer suggested a genuine threat. The remark reflected his reluctance to begin another public fight over the rule book.
Verstappen chose to focus on adapting. He admitted that this style of driving was not what he enjoyed or wanted from Formula 1. Staying at home, he added, would leave him driving nothing.
That resignation gave his criticism more weight. Verstappen was not speaking after a disastrous qualifying session or searching for an excuse. Red Bull had secured a place on the front row. His complaint concerned the character of the machinery, not his starting position.
Antonelli and Norris also prevented the discussion from becoming a personal Verstappen grievance. Both drivers independently described the same loss of challenge at Pouhon. Their comments pointed toward a wider issue created by the power unit rather than a weakness limited to Red Bull.
Antonelli Still Had To Earn Pole
Saturday proved that wrestling these cars around Spa is far from easy.
Antonelli struggled with the balance during Q1 as the wind increased. Mercedes adjusted his front wing, while a cleaner lap helped him improve by more than 1 second between the opening sessions. Cooling track conditions then gave him greater confidence as qualifying progressed.
His decisive improvement came in Sector 2. Antonelli found around 0.5 seconds there on his final Q3 lap. He carried more speed through the corners, trusted the car to hold its line and committed when pole position was at stake.
The Italian did not suggest Mercedes had discovered a secret energy deployment solution. Instead, he credited greater confidence and cleaner execution. Changing power delivery still complicated his references, but he adapted better than anyone else.
Red Bull required a different approach. Isack Hadjar slowed through Stavelot during both Q3 attempts and provided Verstappen with a slipstream toward the final chicane. Their final run brought the cars extremely close through Blanchimont, but the plan worked.
Verstappen admitted the tow rescued him from starting around P6 or P7. Without Hadjar’s help, the small gaps behind Antonelli would have pushed him several rows down the grid.
Close qualifying, therefore, remained possible. Driver skill, engineering decisions and team coordination still shaped the result. Even so, the challenge came from different places than it once did.
That contrast followed the drivers out of their cars and into the paddock. Antonelli had produced an excellent pole lap, while Red Bull had executed its towing plan with precision. Still, the leading drivers were asking why some of Spa’s most demanding corners felt easier when the battery stopped deploying.
The debate placed fresh attention on the measures the FIA had already introduced to improve the behaviour of the 2026 power units.
FIA Adjustments Have Not Solved Every Problem
Officials changed the energy rules after concerns emerged during the opening races.
The maximum permitted recharge was reduced from 8 megajoules to 7 megajoules. The peak superclipping rate also increased from 250 kilowatts to 350 kilowatts. The intention was to complete the necessary harvesting more quickly and restrict the most severe superclipping phase to around 2 to 4 seconds per lap.
Superclipping occurs when the car harvests electrical energy while the driver remains at full throttle. The combustion engine continues working, but some power is redirected into the battery rather than sent to the wheels. Acceleration can therefore fall even though the driver has not lifted from the throttle.
Those adjustments aimed to shorten the most obvious loss of performance. Spa showed that the revised system can still reshape important parts of a lap, particularly at circuits with long straights and limited heavy braking.
Saturday proved that Formula 1 can still produce tight qualifying, even if the track itself has lost some of its teeth. Antonelli delivered under pressure. Red Bull executed a precise towing plan. Verstappen extracted a front-row result without matching Mercedes for outright speed.
None of that removes the warning from the leading 3 qualifiers. When Pouhon becomes easier because the battery has stopped deploying, Formula 1 must decide whether its new technology is changing Spa in ways the sport never intended.
READ MORE: Kimi Antonelli Seizes Spa Pole As Engine Penalties Send Norris Tumbling
FAQs
Why did Max Verstappen criticise F1’s 2026 cars at Spa?
Verstappen said electrical deployment faded through much of Sector 2, leaving the cars with strong downforce but far less power.
What did Verstappen mean by his comment about being shot?
He was joking about the backlash that often follows his criticism of Formula 1’s rules. He did not describe a genuine threat.
Why did Pouhon feel more at ease in the 2026 Formula 1 cars?
Antonelli and Norris said electrical deployment ended around the apex, making the high-speed corner flat despite its traditional difficulty.
What is superclipping in Formula 1?
Superclipping harvests electrical energy while the driver remains at full throttle. Some engine power charges the battery instead of reaching the wheels.
Who took pole for the 2026 Belgian Grand Prix?
Kimi Antonelli beat Max Verstappen by 0.317 seconds. Lando Norris qualified 3rd before serving his grid penalty.
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