F1 drivers' complaints about new cars eerily reminiscent of NASCAR's COT era

As Formula 1 readies for a new season of competition beginning Saturday evening in Australia, its biggest stars are becoming the biggest critics of its new car and regulations. 

Following qualifying for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, four-time series champion Max Verstappen and defending champion Lando Norris didn't hold back on their criticisms of the car. 

"We've come from the best cars ever made in Formula 1 and the nicest to drive to probably the worst," Norris said, per ESPN's Nate Saunders.

Verstappen, who crashed in qualifying, said that he "was not having fun" driving the new cars. 

It's far from the first time drivers in a racing series have voiced their complaints regarding a new vehicle. 

NASCAR's COT was once heavily ridiculed

In 2007, NASCAR found itself in a similar position to Formula 1: The sport was wildly popular in the United States and poised to grow. 

However, as the years wore on, unstable economic conditions, the playoff format and retiring superstars, among other factors, led to a major decline in the sport's popularity. 

Is F1 going down a similar road? It's far too early to tell. And even if Formula 1 did see a major drop-off in popularity stateside, it has something NASCAR doesn't: a rabid fan base in all corners of the globe. 

But in regard to the cars on the racetrack, F1 finds itself where NASCAR did when it began introducing its "Car of Tomorrow" (COT) in 2007: Drivers don't like it, and fans don't seem keen on it, either.

Kyle Busch won the first race with the COT at Bristol Motor Speedway in March 2007. Standing in victory lane, he wasn't at all subtle about his feelings for NASCAR's new car.

"I'm still not a big fan of these things," Busch said, per ESPN. "I can't stand to drive them. They suck."

Ironically, in 2008, the first year where the COT was used in all 36 Cup Series races, Busch won eight times. 

Norris and Verstappen, among other F1 drivers, are frustrated by the new hybrid system in Formula 1's new cars, which places a greater emphasis on battery management and forces cars to lose power while drivers have their foot firmly on the loud pedal on straightaways. 

As NASCAR's COT was incrementally rolled out in 2007, drivers had similarly pointed complaints.

"It's ridiculous that these cars are so bad," said Dale Earnhardt Jr., NASCAR's most popular driver, per SouthCoast Today. "I hope NASCAR listens to the drivers and teams when we say these cars don't drive worth a damn."

Drivers didn't like the car's boxy shape, and fans didn't like the new rear wing, which stuck out like a sober fan in the Talladega infield. The COT eventually underwent major revisions in 2010, including a removal of the rear wing by March at Martinsville. 

While nostalgia has given NASCAR's Car of Tomorrow a gentler rest in the history books, Formula 1's new car could be looked back on with similar vitriol one day. 

It certainly is being looked at that way right now, and suffice to say, it's not a good look for the world's most popular auto racing series to have its brightest stars speak so negatively about its latest piece of purportedly flawed innovation.