Lando Norris has slammed Formula 1’s new regulations and labelled this season’s cars as the ‘worst’ ever made.The British driver has become the latest world champion to criticise F1’s new cars after Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton also vented their frustrations.Lando Norris cut a frustrated figure after qualifying sixth in MelbourneGettyWhat changes have been implemented for the 2026 season?Four-time world champion Verstappen has been particularly vocal about the decision to introduce hybrid engines that are powered 50 per cent by sustainable fuels with the other half by electric power.The move puts focus on managing battery levels at the expense of driving the car to the limit in corners.Reigning world champion Norris qualified sixth for Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix after missing out on a portion of practice due to reliability issues.And that prompted him to hit out at F1 bosses over the changes implemented ahead of the 2026 season.“We’ve come from the best cars ever made in Formula 1 and the nicest to drive to probably the worst,” Norris said.“It sucks, but you have to live with it and just maximise what you get given. It’s certainly different. It’s certainly not like it was last year.“It’s not like, yeah, push this corner more. Sometimes you push more, you lose the battery and just go slower. You have to understand how to do things.”Norris was left frustrated after colliding with a cooling fan that had been thrown away by Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes.As a result, he ended up on the exit of Turn 2 and afterwards claimed that he was unable to see it after looking down at his steering wheel to check the level of charge in his battery.“I’m looking at my steering wheel, that’s why I don’t see the debris, because I have to look at what speed I want to get at the end of the straight [did recharge the battery], and if I need to brake 30 metres earlier, 10 metres later,” Norris said. “So that’s also the problem.”Lando Norris went off grid during qualifying at the Australian Grand PrixGettyWhile there appears to be widespread annoyance, George Russell is having no such trouble.The Mercedes man led team-mate Kimi Antonelli by 0.363 seconds and was 0.785 seconds clear of Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar in third place.Teething problems“I think everyone knows what the issues are – it’s just the fact it’s a 50-50 split,” Norris said. “It just doesn’t work.“The fact, yeah, you just decelerate so much before corners, you have to lift everywhere to make sure the [battery] pack’s at the top. If the pack’s too high, you’re also screwed.“It’s just difficult. But, yeah, it’s what we have. It doesn’t feel good as a driver, but I’m sure George is smiling, so it doesn’t really matter at the end of the day. You’ve just got to maximise what you’re going to give it.”Norris believes F1’s rulemakers would have been better placed listening to the drivers whose interests are better aligned with the fans.Lando Norris encountered no such problems when qualifying on pole for the Australian Grand PrixGetty“I think we have the interest of the sport in our minds better than others,” he said.“We also want the best for the sport. At the same time, we don’t try to do things to make it more fun for us.“We try to do it so it’s cooler cars, looks better to watch, more exciting, all these different things.“The rules have been changed because that’s what manufacturers want. But if you have 20 other drivers complaining, I don’t know what’s better for the sport or not.”