F1 needs better balance between business and sport, says Norris
Formula One F1 – Belgian Grand Prix – Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot, Belgium – July 19, 2026 McLaren’s Lando Norris during the drivers parade before the race REUTERS/Jakub Porzycki
Read a summary of this article on FAST.
Get bite-sized news via a new
cards interface. Give it a try.
Click here to return to FAST
Tap here to return to FAST
FAST
BUDAPEST, July 24 : Formula One has been driven too much by business decisions and needs to remember it is a sport, according to McLaren’s world champion Lando Norris.
With drivers chafing at new regulations that have cramped their speed, particularly at last weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix, the Briton told reporters ahead of Sunday’s Hungarian round that Formula One could do better.
“It’s a business,” said the Briton. “Everyone wants to make money, so in order for Audi and other teams to come in we had to change these things. It’s a shame. It should never have been like that. But that’s how businesses work.”
Audi have entered the sport this season after taking over Swiss-based Sauber, with the German carmaker encouraged by new rules that have increased the electrical element of the power unit to near-parity with the internal combustion engine.
Guess Word
Crack the word, one row at a time
Buzzword
Create words using the given letters
Mini Sudoku
Tiny puzzle, mighty brain teaser
Mini Crossword
Small grid, big challenge
Word Search
Spot as many words as you can
The rules have been tweaked for 2027 to reduce the electrical contribution.
“Formula One will always be great,” said Norris, whose car has a Mercedes engine. “It can just be better.
“Us as drivers just know it better than everyone else. The thing that’s a shame is that Formula One is too heavily led by the fact it’s a business nowadays and not how can you make the sport the best possible? It’s ‘how can you just make the most money as a business?’.
“And that’s just not what it should simply be. That’s not how a sport should be run. The fact we have hybrids, 50-50 and all that, that’s just because more teams wanted to come in it and because you make more money.”
DIVIDED SPORT
Norris said the Liberty Media-owned sport was also divided between fans who followed Formula One before the arrival of the popular Netflix docu-series “Drive to Survive” and those who have been drawn to it since.
“I think the fans you have nowadays, because they’re a lot more personality-based…and not simply of Formula One as a whole sport, I think there’s less interest in basically how the actual race goes, and more just ‘has the driver done well or not?’,” he added.
“I think that’s just how the fans have changed over time, and that’s completely fine. But the biggest voice should always be ours as drivers…we have the best idea of how racing should be, how it can be, what’s possible, what’s not.
“We would just want the best for everything, the best for the fans, the best viewing, the best racing for us, the most fun to drive. And at the minute, we don’t…we have very, very little say, and a lot more of it’s done because if you can have Audi and other teams in it, it’s a bigger win than the drivers being happy.”
Source: Reuters
Sign up for our newsletters
Get the CNA app
Stay updated with notifications for breaking news and our best stories
Get WhatsApp alerts
Join our channel for the top reads for the day on your preferred chat app
Get bite-sized news via a new
cards interface. Give it a try.
Click here to return to FAST
Tap here to return to FAST
FAST
About The Author
