One of the most controversial technical talking points of the opening phase of the 2026 Formula 1 season has been the issue of race starts, with Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur now openly criticising the FIA’s intervention and accusing rival teams of politically motivated complaints.
Despite only a handful of races so far, the new generation of power units—featuring a near-even split between internal combustion and electric power—has already created major challenges for several teams during launch procedures. From pre-season testing onwards, it became clear that managing the starting phase had become significantly more complex under the new regulations.
The Australian Grand Prix provided one of the most dramatic early examples, when Liam Lawson’s car was left almost stationary on the grid, narrowly avoiding a major accident as Franco Colapinto’s Alpine missed the stranded car by mere centimetres. In several races, Mercedes and Red Bull have also struggled badly off the line, with their drivers losing multiple positions at the start.
Ferrari, by contrast, quickly established itself as the benchmark in launch performance, with the SF-26 proving particularly effective when the lights went out.
However, there has been considerable frustration inside Maranello after the FIA introduced a unilateral change to the start procedure before the season began. For safety reasons, an additional five seconds were added to the pre-start sequence to allow all teams enough time to properly spool up their turbo systems. Even with the revised procedure, Ferrari remained the most effective team in this area. But there is little doubt that the regulatory intervention helped Ferrari’s main rivals reduce their disadvantage during one of the Scuderia’s strongest performance areas.
Fred Vasseur has been unhappy about the situation from the moment the change was approved, arguing that Ferrari had specifically developed its power unit to maximise launch performance within the original framework. Now, in an exclusive interview with The Race, the Frenchman has returned to the issue with some pointed criticism aimed at both the FIA and rival teams.
Fred Vasseur: “Politically clever, but not fair”
“The dilemma was: ‘Do we want to gain a tenth of a second on lap time, or lose five positions at the start?’” Fred Vasseur explained. “If you ask the engineers, they will tell you: ‘Let’s make sure we have a good start.’”
According to Ferrari’s team principal, the team’s strategic planning was ultimately undermined by safety complaints raised by rival outfits, with Mercedes and McLaren among the most vocal.
“Imagine without the blue lights—some cars would probably still be sitting on the grid in China,” Fred Vasseur joked sarcastically. “But safety concerns can be raised, and the FIA absolutely has the right to intervene. I simply have to accept that. But in the end, I think it is also a little unfair to us.”
Fred Vasseur also revealed that Ferrari had already discussed the issue with governing bodies long before the controversy escalated: “A year ago, I raised this with the FIA,” he explained. “We discussed it in the Sporting Advisory Committee, and we discussed it in the Power Unit Advisory Committee. What I appreciated very much was the FIA’s response, which was that teams should design their cars according to the regulations—not the other way around. I think that is an excellent approach.”
The Ferrari boss then took aim at the lobbying efforts of rival teams: “So then having half—or 40%—of the grid complaining, saying it’s extremely dangerous and so on… politically, it was a smart move, but not a very fair one.”
Ferrari could do nothing to block the decision
Fred Vasseur also dismissed criticism suggesting Ferrari should have fought harder to oppose the rule adjustment.
“It was a safety issue,” he concluded. “I don’t have to agree with it. It was a decision based on safety reasons. It’s up to them to decide. Even if everyone opposed it, they could still go ahead anyway.”
While Ferrari continues to enjoy a launch advantage, the controversy highlights the increasingly political battleground that Formula 1’s 2026 regulations have already created behind the scenes.
red Vasseur’s outspoken frustration highlights the immense political maneuvering that constantly shapes the competitive order in Formula 1. By engineering a superior solution to the complex power delivery demands of the 2026 regulations, Ferrari earned a legitimate sporting advantage that was compromised by eleventh-hour regulatory intervention. While safety must always remain the sport’s paramount priority, this episode highlights how easily the sport’s baseline rulebook can be altered when rival teams successfully weaponize administrative leverage to mask their own technical shortfalls.
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