Formula One is about to get weird: watch the fastest laps of testing so far…

Strap in folks, you’re probably not ready for just how weird F1 is about to get. Why? The new V6 hybrid power units need vastly more electricity to work, and that means the drivers are having to take drastic measures to keep their batteries juiced.

Measures like lifting and coasting on straights, and not attacking the entry of corners, or the exit of corners, and dropping down into the low gears purely to keep the flow of electrons up. Uh oh.

As you’ll shortly see below from Charles Leclerc’s fastest lap of testing in Bahrain so far – a 1:34.273s – and to a lesser extent world champion Lando Norris’s benchmark time from the first day, all-out attack is no longer the fastest way around the racetrack. Boo.

Anyhow, let’s not denounce the new regs just yet – we’re barely half way through testing and we all know how quickly F1 teams learn how to implement new tech.

And this season’s cars are at least smaller and nimbler than the last generation’s, hopefully putting more of an emphasis on the skill of the driver. A dab of oppo’ here, and there…

But yes… the sport is going to look very different come the opening race in Melbourne on 8 March. No wonder Max Verstappen – who described nu-F1 as “Formula E on steroids” yesterday – is planning to enter the N24 later this year in search of some flat-out racing. Oh dear.

Feast your eyes on the following footage, and then let us know what you think in the comments zone BTL…