Chinese Grand Prix: Max Verstappen says he wishes new F1 cars were ‘more fun’ but hopes for change

In many cases, teams use high-speed sections of the track to reduce engine power to the rear axle and charge the battery instead, a process known as “clipping”.

But Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc said he enjoyed his battle for the lead with Mercedes’ George Russell in Melbourne, which was a result of the new style of Formula 1.

Both were using the new ‘boost’ and ‘overtake’ modes, which give greater electrical propagation, to pass and re-pass each other in the opening laps of the race.

“I was positively surprised by the battles I had with George,” Leclerc said. “I enjoyed this battle a lot more than I thought before the race.

“The negatives are known and there’s no need to repeat them over and over again, but certainly in qualifying, it’s less fun. You have more shots and it’s a bit of a different feeling, but the race I enjoyed kind of had to think about it when I was racing against George.”

However, Verstappen joked that he “swapped the simulator for my Nintendo Switch and yeah, a little bit of Mario Kart practice.”

“We still need to give him more of a chance,” said Russell, who won the first race.

“Melbourne is a track with four long straights and you had to use your energy across four straights, some of them used more energy on the first and second, less on the third and fourth and some of them the opposite.

“But now we have arrived at a track like this and all the teams will use all their energy in a row.

“So I think it will feel less extreme for the fans with the super clip and the recharge, and I don’t think the overtaking will be as much back and forth, so we just need to wait and see before making any quick decisions.”