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Anyone excited about the 2026 F1 season?

RVT1K said:
. . . Lando was catching Max at the end and Russell was catching Leclerc but it was mostly a dull race.

The track is almost universally hated and there is already talk of changing the layout for next year.
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In a post-race interview, Max said something like Lando was faster than me but it's impossible to pass here, so I stayed ahead.

Kinda sums up the event.
 
While many of the drivers seem to be more concerned with being politically correct or showing the world just how very virtuous they are, Max does seem to mostly just speak his mind.

Next up is Baku, another street circuit. But I think there will be more passing opportunities. And some nicer scenery, some of the old architecture is really beautiful.
 
I like Baku. Such a cool setting behind the cars. Even these little turbo things sound good running between buildings at speed.
 
Baku qualifying spoilers....



Kimi crashes out in Q1, George on pole by a mile and four different manufacturers on the first two rows!

I almost missed qualifying, luckily I checked the schedule last night. Does anyone know why it was today and why the race is Saturday as opposed to Sunday??
 
Well Baku was a fairly interesting race.

In no particular order..

George wins but that was expected based on his weekend pace and qualifying. He's still over 60 points behind Kimi but he has been gaining some ground.
Max makes up for a bad qualifying and finishes 2nd.
Isack comes back from a broken wrist and fills out the podium.
A bad weekend for McLaren and a WORSE one for Alpine! Oscar spins away a potential podium and Lando gets caught up in Colapinto's moment of over exuberance.
Colapinto takes out his own teammate -causing a double DNF when points were almost assured- and Lando - see above.
Lando calls for a race ban for Colapinto but then settles down a bit. Every driver out there has gotten greedy into Turn 1 and especially after a re-start and I don't think a one race suspension was really called for. But I also think a 5 place grid penalty for the next race is a little light. Maybe make him start the next race from pit lane?
Kimi makes up a boatload of positions and minimizes the damage done to his title chase by crashing out of Q1 and starting 16th.

Next stop Sepang although it is being called the Bahrain GP.
 
Colapinto got into a corner too hot. Who hasn't done that? Racing drivers are a bunch of little girls these days. Yeah it sucks to be taken out but damn it's supposed to be dodgy going sometimes. Baku is a combo street/for racing track and traction is inconsistent. **** happens dammit.
 
RVT1K said:
. . . I almost missed qualifying, luckily I checked the schedule last night. Does anyone know why it was today and why the race is Saturday as opposed to Sunday??
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Sunday was an important national memorial holiday so the whole schedule was moved one day earlier: Thursday through Saturday.

I don't have much to add about the race except that the finish was very close, I think Max was 0.1 seconds behind Russell crossing the finish line. They passed a local yellow just before the last turn that caused Russell to loose boost for some reason, so he almost got caught. Fun race, I was rooting for George and Max was catching. (I root for different people on different weeks.)

Was wondering about Norris. He seems inconsistent. Wins a couple races in a row then qualifies behind the other front runners at other races. Is he an inconsistent driver or does he have an inconsistent car or . . . ?
 
TSmith8605 said:
Sunday was an important national memorial holiday so the whole schedule was moved one day earlier: Thursday through Saturday.

I don't have much to add about the race except that the finish was very close, I think Max was 0.1 seconds behind Russell crossing the finish line. They passed a local yellow just before the last turn that caused Russell to loose boost for some reason, so he almost got caught. Fun race, I was rooting for George and Max was catching. (I root for different people on different weeks.)

Was wondering about Norris. He seems inconsistent. Wins a couple races in a row then qualifies behind the other front runners at other races. Is he an inconsistent driver or does he have an inconsistent car or . . . ?
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Thanks for the info on the holiday. I had not seen that anywhere else.

Max was closing but ran out of laps. Both he and Hadjar had excellent races.

Well Norris is the reigning champ. I think it was at Baku last year where Piastri lost his momentum and ultimately the Championship.

It seems like these cars are all on a knife edge and different tracks really seem to make a difference. Plus McLaren didn't start this season the way they ended last season meaning they were a bit behind.
 
geezin' said:
Lewis is one of the greatest ever. A pampered one though. The real world is alien to him.
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There was also a bit of right place at the right time. The Merc was an excellent package and it suited him well. I think his lack of similar success with the last version of the car before going to Ferrari shows that.
All that being said, he certainly did the best he could with what he had and had tremendous success.

Dressing like a twit doesn't bother me. Much.
It is the insistence that he knows what the rest of us should think is important that makes me dislike him the most.

I've said this before on other platforms but I go to sports to ESCAPE and I don't want to hear my athlete-heros telling me what is "important" no matter the sport and no matter if I agree or not.
 
RVT1K said:
It seems like these cars are all on a knife edge and different tracks really seem to make a difference. Plus McLaren didn't start this season the way they ended last season meaning they were a bit behind. …The Merc was an excellent package and it suited him well
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This has been the way of F1 for decades.

The cars are always on the cutting edge of what the rules allow and then some if the team doesn’t get caught or a creative use of the rules one team exploits doesn’t get banned.

These cars are track specific by manufacturer. The tracks vary a bit, not so much with the newer designed tracks but the older ones with differing requirements. Some give benefits to aero, others the handling is more important as well as other aspects of performance which varies by team.

This year, a new car, some did way better at the design which happens every time there are significant rules changes in either cars or drivetrain. Once the car’s best performance criteria are determined many can predict where each manufacturer’s cars will have the advantage, however small. Drivers need to be adaptable to the new cars, too. Some do better than others getting the most from a new unit, whatever that is on the car.
 
Sepang is a very cool circuit. Luckily Sky F1 rebroadcasts everything, watching live will be a challenge for me due to the time zone.

The same with MotoGP this weekend since they are racing at Motegi.
 
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