Lando Norris has been accused of "harsh" criticism after expressing his concern that "a big accident" was on the cards with the new F1 rules.
Alongside Red Bull's Max Verstappen, F1 champion Norris has been one of the most outspoken detractors since the year started, joining the chorus of those disliking the energy management formula.
One of McLaren driver Norris' major concerns was over the speed differential in wheel-to-wheel combat between a car lacking power from the battery compared to one fully charged.
“It's chaos, you're going to have a big accident,” said Norris. "Which is a shame that you're just driving, and we're the ones just waiting for something to happen and something to go quite horribly wrong.
"That's not a nice position to be in. There's nothing we can really do about that now. It's a shame, it's very artificial, depending on what the power unit decides to do and randomly does at times. You just get overtaken by five cars, and you can just do nothing about it."
Former Haas team principal Guenther Steiner can appreciate Norris' concerns, but feels the Briton has gone too far.
"Because of the deployment of the energy, and when you're charging these batteries, the car slows down, he is worried about that," said Steiner, speaking on TalkSport.
"At the start, it's not easy to get these cars off the line. In the first race, we had an issue." That referenced the fact Alpine's Franco Colapinto came within inches of ramming into the back of Liam Lawson's Racing Bulls.
"But Formula 1 is very good in addressing these situations. It's what Formula 1 does very well, and the FIA is on top of the safety. They would not do something which they know is unsafe.
"So I find that [Norris'] criticism a little harsh. In racing, there is always something which can happen. Fingers crossed, nothing has happened up to now. I think it just gets better and better.
"With a new technology, you always get surprises. But I'm not really worried about that one. Obviously, I hope that nothing bad happens."
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