Formula 1 has introduced hybrid engines this 2026 season, which has been highly divisive between fans, teams, and even drivers, some defending it (like seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton) and some loathing it (like four-time world champion Max Verstappen). Using electric cars in motorsport is not new: Formula E has been doing it since 2014. It's the most prestigious single-seater championship with electric cars, officially recognised as World Championship by FIA since 2020, albeit far less popular.
Last weekend, Formula E stopped for the first time in Madrid, Spain, with round 6 of the 2025/26 season that started in December 2025 in Sao Paulo, and will end in London in August 2026. Formula E co-founder and CEO, Alberto Longo, spoke with AS about the comparisons drawn between Formula E and the new F1, and he said he "doesn't understand why F1 is increasingly moving towards our way of doing races", and even predicted that F1 will return to the way it was.
"When we created this championship, we did so with the intention of attracting new people to the sport with races that had never been seen before", explained Longo. "In the end, both championships are converging on the same type of races: energy efficiency, not pure performance, which is what has historically been validated by motorsport fans. We offer something completely different".
"This hybrid F1 makes no sense, offering a type of racing that we've been doing for 12 years. It's proving a bit complex for them, even the drivers aren't understanding it, and that's why we see the criticism from those involved", Longo added. "Hearing Verstappen speak like that about his own championship is something F1 cannot tolerate, so I believe it will be reversed, they will return to combustion engines and be true to their way of racing."