Max Verstappen again hinted he will not continue in Formula 1 if engine tweaks are not pushed through for 2027, saying he left the Canadian Grand Prix yearning for a more pure form of motor racing despite his exciting battle with Lewis Hamilton for second position.
Verstappen has been the biggest critic of Formula 1's new cars, which he has described as "anti-racing."
F1 has agreed in principle to move away from the controversial 50-50 split between combustion and electric power next season, although it has emerged the sport's manufacturers are not aligned on a shift.
The mooted change would shift the ratio closer to a 60-40 ratio in favour of the conventional combustion power.
Ferrari and Audi are understood to be against the proposed step away from the current split.
Verstappen had said ahead of the weekend it is "not mentally doable" for him to continue should the sport's cars keep the current ratio -- he has likened the battery element of the new F1 to driving Mario Kart.
Asked on Sunday after the race about the proposed move to a 60-40 split, he told Sky Sports F1: "That's the minimum [I need]."
Verstappen had arrived at the Canadian Grand Prix off the back of his highly-publicised appearance at the Nurburgring 24 Hours race, part of his increasing commitment to sports car racing.
"The thing is... I know how pure other motorsports can feel like, you know? So then when you come back to this, it's just... not very nice. I don't want to be too negative now after a race like this, but I know what it feels like to drive pure racing cars and pure overtakes, pure racing and just natural driving," he said.
"This is all a bit like, very anti-driving, anti-racing. And that's not what Formula 1 should be about. So I really hope that next year we can get that 60-40 because that will naturally help everything a bit."
Verstappen's fight with Hamilton was the focal point of the final laps of F1's Montreal broadcast.
Hamilton reeled in his 2021 rival to pass with a handful of laps to spare and both drivers said after the race how much they had enjoyed the fight.
The battle did little to change Verstappen's mood -- he said F1 drivers are always going to deliver a great spectacle no matter what the cars are like.
"I've been racing also different kind of cars and especially last week, that reminds me how pure motorsport can be and how great the racing can be," he said in the news conference on Sunday evening.
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"So, yeah, when I come back into Formula 1, the thing is of course here, especially most of the drivers, we're the best in the world. So even if you would give us a rental car, we'll give you a good show and we'll race each other very hard and well. So it has nothing to do in that sense with the rules."
He also said fans have only seen the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what he and his fellow drivers are doing to drive and race the new cars.
"But for me, while driving, yeah... it's all a bit confusing. It's not what Formula 1 should be about. It's way too complex, all of this. Most of the rules, the fans don't even know what we are dealing with while driving, what is allowed when you're behind or when you're the car ahead, what we have to do on a formation lap or what we have to do in an out-lap, or how much battery that we're allowed to charge," Verstappen added.
"All these things are just such a shame that we have to deal with all these things. For me F1 just needs to be more pure and I really hope that what they try to do next year will go through because I think that is necessary, the minimum necessary, to make it a bit more natural and a bit more back to normal, or at least a bit more pure racing.
"But like I said, as drivers, give us any kind of car, we'll always race and give a good entertainment or a good show. Doesn't matter, people say, 'Oh, but look now, the show is great, the cars were fighting,' but it has nothing to do with the car. It just needs to be more pure."
