🏎️ F1 2026 Feels Like Mario Kart — And Drivers Are NOT Happy About It

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🏎️ LOcO for Cars & Bikes  ·  March 2026  ·  F1 Special

F1 2026 Feels Like
Mario Kart

And Drivers Are Absolutely Furious About It

🍄

The Story

A New Era Nobody Asked For

Formula 1 just kicked off its brand new 2026 season at Melbourne's Albert Park — and instead of celebration, the paddock erupted into one of the most brutal driver revolts in recent memory.

The 2026 season introduced completely redesigned cars with a 50-50 split between combustion and electric power, an Overtake Mode boost button, and "super clipping" — where cars lose power on full throttle straights because the hybrid system kicks into energy recovery. Fans watching onboard footage thought drivers were lifting. They weren't.

⚡ F1 2026 Power Mode Selector

0

km/h

SELECT A MODE

Driver Reactions

What The Grid Actually Said

20 of 22 drivers reportedly complained in a heated briefing before the season even began.

MAX VERSTAPPEN

Red Bull Racing

"In the midfield there were definitely Mario Kart-like things happening. If you enjoy that, okay — but that's what I do at home when I play Mario Kart."

CHARLES LECLERC

Ferrari

"When I press it, it feels like the mushroom in Mario Kart. I've known more fun... but let's give it a few more races."

LANDO NORRIS

McLaren

[7 second pause] "No. Not really." — Asked if there's ANYTHING he likes about the 2026 cars.

PIERRE GASLY

Alpine

"There's just way more than just driving going on. It's the battery. The energy. We're taking quite a bit away from the pure driving."

⚡ Super Clipping Simulator

Click the bar repeatedly to charge — then watch it drain on the straight, just like F1 2026!

EMPTY0%FULL

👆 Click the bar to charge the battery!

The Comparison Nobody Wanted

Mario Kart vs F1 2026

🍄 MARIO KART

VS

🏎️ F1 2026

Mushroom Item

Boost Type

Overtake Button

Blue Shell

Chaos Move

Super Clipping

Rainbow Road

Most Chaotic

Melbourne 2026

Bowser

Most Dominant

Mercedes

Fun 😄

Driver Verdict

Not Fun 😤

Australian GP 2026

Race Results

POS	DRIVER	TEAM	GAP
🥇	George Russell	Mercedes	WINNER
🥈	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	+5.4s
🥉	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+8.1s
4	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	+15.2s
5	Lando Norris	McLaren	+22.7s
6	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	+28.3s ⬆️P20

Team Vibes After Race 1

Who's Happy. Who's Not.

Mercedes

🥳

Dominant

Ferrari

😐

Mixed

McLaren

😤

Unhappy

Red Bull

😡

Furious

Aston Martin

💀

Struggling

Alpine

🤷

Confused

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🏁 LOcO VERDICT

We love Mario Kart as much as the next person. But when the best drivers on the planet say F1 reminded them of a Nintendo game, something has gone seriously wrong.

F1 sold these regulations as the future of motorsport. Right now, it feels like a beta that needed another year of testing.

The season is young. But F1 needs to fix this — fast.

F1 2026 Australian GP Mario Kart Verstappen Leclerc Norris Mercedes Motorsport

Ford Mustang India!

Foreign Sports Car Mustang has finally arrived in India,with a pricing of  45 to 60 Lacs.
Get Ready Folks!

TATA @ HEXA,NEXON

Tata motors shows its aria based SUV  Hexa which looks like a modified Aria with more of styling to it.

With a new stand in compact suv TATA launches its Nexon

Volkswagen to launch GTI in India

Volkswagen has shown its upcoming premium hatchback GTI with 189.3bhp 1.8 liter TSI engine in the Auto Expo 2016  it might be priced around Rs 20 lakhs.

Land Rover Discovery to Discover the Indian Roads

Land Rover has taken the veil off the much-awaited Discovery Sport. This SUV will be a replacement for the Freelander. The Discovery Sport is expected to come to India sometime in 2016.

The Discovery Sport has been comprehensively redesigned and lengthened compared to the Freelander, with a new rear suspension and a seven-seat format. It will be packed with technology, including a new infotainment system that will be used across the range and a new kind of exterior pedestrian airbag on the bonnet. Land Rover believes that it will attract both the Freelander faithful and a new generation of buyers who wouldn’t have considered a Discovery before.

Skoda Rapid (new edition) to hit the Indian roads by end of September

We had reported way back in June this year that Skoda is readying a special edition Rapid sedan for our market.

 

Now, our sources tell us that the special edition we'd spied is, in fact, a variant of the updated Rapid sedan which will hit showrooms on September 30, 2014.

 

As seen in the spy photo, the new variant — called the Skoda Rapid Black Edition — is expected to get cosmetic tweaks on the exterior such as black inserts for the headlamps with projector units, black surrounds for the grille and also blackened wing mirrors. It will also get a black-roof which is not clear in this photograph. The Rapid Black Edition will also get special 16-inch Skoda Comet alloy wheels and blackened fog-lamp inserts.

The big news is that the updated Skoda Rapid sedan will come with an all-new 1.5-litre diesel engine good for 104 bhp and will also get the option of a DSG automatic gearbox. 

Earlier this year, Skoda had updated the interiors of the Rapid sedan with minor tweaks and adding equipment such as a new steering wheel with steering-mounted controls for some variants and a new gear knob, among other features. We expect these tweaks to be carried over to the updated car. 

The 2014 Skoda Rapid is available at a discount of around Rs 90,000 depending on the variant.

US gets Lexus RC F 2015

It’s the ultra-high-performance derivative of Lexus’s new RC 350 coupe.The RC F’s direct competition is obvious enough: The Audi RS5, the BMW M4 and the Mercedes C63 AMG Coupe (and perhaps soon, a Cadillac ATS V coupe). 

The RC F’s springs are firmer than those on an RC 350 with F-Sport upgrade. The adaptive shocks have a higher default dampening rate. The Brembo brakes are larger still, with six-piston aluminum mono-block calipers in front, four-piston in the rear. Michelin Pilot Sports come standard (235/40-19 front, 265/35-19 rear). There’s more driver-selectable adjustment for the eight-speed torque converter automatic (the only choice), the electrically boosted steering and the stability electronics, including all-off.

The F adds a triangular structural brace in the engine compartment and another behind the rear seat (which in turn eliminates the folding rear seat). It has an aluminum hood and bumper beams, a speed-activated rear wing and an optional carbon-fiber wing and roof panel. At 3,958 pounds, its curb weight slots below the all-wheel-drive RS5 and just above the C63. Its power-to-weight ratio is surpassed only by the much lighter M4.

And it looks the part. The F adds big intake grilles at the edges of the RC’s front valance for oil and transmission coolers. It has a vent in the center of its hood, and gill vents at trailing edge of its front fenders. Its exhaust tips are stacked at a 45-degree angle, and it does without the funny strakes at the corners of the RC 350’s rear bumper. The RC F grabs plenty of looks, in “what’s that?” more than “whoh, beauty!” fashion.

This car comes track ready, and as if to prove the point, Lexus will begin building FIA-spec GT-3 race cars for customers this fall. Yet the company insists it wanted more.

“The goal was a track-ready car for any driver, assessable to all skill levels,” say chief engineer Yukihiko Naguchi. “We wanted a car that can captivate experienced enthusiasts and create new ones from novice drivers”