Anyone excited about the 2026 F1 season?

[BmWr75]

Had just cancelled Apple TV last month because there was nothing new on it. Realized this weekend would have to resubscribe to watch F1 races.

We sat down last night and watched the Australian GP. The race looked like a video game. Fast scene cuts, cars going faster than I remembered. About lap 20 I dozed for a couple of minutes and then woke up and it was the final lap. Looked at my wife and said WTF?? She replied that was only on for 30 minutes. Apple TV defaulted to showing us the race summary video. Afterwards saw that watching the whole prerace/race/post race was an option, but had to dig one layer deep in Apple TV to find it.

 

[RVT1K]

Since my service doesn't offer a DVR, I'm watching most things live but F1 can be the exception. SkyF1 will repeat the race several times throughout the week so missing it live is not a big problem.
MotoGP is another story. I watch via TNTSports out of the UK. They do a FANTASTIC job of covering the sport..practice sessions for all the classes, qualifying for all the classes, all the races and then podium ceremonies. On Sunday, they go on the air for MotoGP warm-up and don't go off the air until the final podium ceremony for the MotoGP race. All with barely any commercials. The downside is sporadic and sometimes unreliable rebroadcasts.
MotoGP was the week before F1 and was from Thailand and the main event started at 2AM local time. I was able to catch a rebroadcast but had to hunt a bit and deal with live events preempting it. The F1 race started at 10PM local and I stayed up to watch it all.

 

[howzat]

I have not watched MotoGP regularly for many years as getting coverage has been too inconsistent. Used to watch every race of the 500cc championship back in the Wayne Rainey/Kevin Schwantz/Mick Doohan era though - commentary was by Barry Sheene.

The MotoGP channel is free on Plex.TV in the US. Right now there is a replay of the Tuk Tuk feature race at the 2026 season opener in Thailand. The replay of the MotoGP race is on after that. The 2nd race of 2026 (Brazil) in on the 22nd.

 

[TSmith8605]

I wish they would get on with the racing and stop the chat; the first 30 minutes of the program is just talk.

I can understand that but I do like the pre-race and post-race coverage because, although sometimes repetitive, it does give some insight into what's going on and adds to the build-up of anticipation for the actual race - makes the race itself seem more significant when it comes.

While I said above that I'm not a fan of the celebrity spectacle, I do like the experience of being at the track during a race. The SkyF1 grid walk sequence just before the race is the closest I'll ever get to being a VIP on the F1 grid at that time (glad that still shows up on Apple). Also, I liked the "Ted's Notebook" sequences after qualifying and the races (seems to be missing from the Apple TV coverage). That sequence gives insight, again, to the paddock experience and some insight into the tremendous logistics required by each team bring all this stuff to a different track each week.

Since I like being there, I've been to several amateur vintage races (helped some friends who were in the race), several IMSA races, a couple Indy races and once to the 24 Hours of Le Mans (a big party + race) but never got to an F1 race so far.

However, the track is not the best place to actually follow the race. I attend the IMSA race in Monterey every year and then go home and watch the TV coverage to see, in detail, what happened.

Since I don't watch F1 live, I can fast-forward through stuff I don't like.

 

[TSmith8605]

This looks pretty cool:

(from Apple TV website)

Viewers can follow every moment of the race with a Multiview experience, watching up to four live feeds at once.3 They can easily get started with a one-tap, preconfigured Multiview layout for every team, or if they prefer even more personalization, they can customize their own Multiview and choose which feeds they’d like to follow.

Yes, this is a cool addition. Sky has done this for the last few years but ESPN did not pass that through to US viewers - so now it's available here. This feature is not available on archive playback.

 

[TSmith8605]

Great race - especially Leclerc vs Russell in the opening laps. These cars look like a bitch to drive and fun to watch. Even Lewis is smiling.

 

[sanford12]

About the only races I take interest in now are Nascar road courses. I had enough of turn left courses quite awhile back. Indy car has gotten a lot better and prefer road courses with Indy also.

 

[RVT1K]

While I said above that I'm not a fan of the celebrity spectacle, I do like the experience of being at the track during a race. The SkyF1 grid walk sequence just before the race is the closest I'll ever get to being a VIP on the F1 grid at that time (glad that still shows up on Apple). Also, I liked the "Ted's Notebook" sequences after qualifying and the races (seems to be missing from the Apple TV coverage). That sequence gives insight, again, to the paddock experience and some insight into the tremendous logistics required by each team bring all this stuff to a different track each week.

Ted's notebook is typically a good wrap-up of the weekend.

But I think that grid walk with Brundle is an absolute dumpster fire. He simply can not ad-lib and is constantly struggling to come up with questions. Nobody wants to talk with him and he's constantly scrambling and begging when not getting blown-off entirely. Add the ridiculous crowd that he and his cameraman are trying to elbow through. The people who will talk with him are usually totally unknown to me. The whole thing annoys me and I don't think it adds anything of value to the broadcast.

 

[Blue Shadow]

but never got to an F1 race so far.

My 1976 Bicentennial Spirit was going to both US Grands Prix. Long Beach and Watkins Glen. Maybe you can do all 3 USGPs for the 250th anniversary. Gonna be a lot more expensive. Tickets in 1976 were $15 at The Glen and we camped.

 

[TSmith8605]

My 1976 Bicentennial Spirit was going to both US Grands Prix. Long Beach and Watkins Glen. Maybe you can do all 3 USGPs for the 250th anniversary. Gonna be a lot more expensive. Tickets in 1976 were $15 at The Glen and we camped.

The real deal. Almost made to Austin a few years ago but the trip fell through. Forgot why.

 

[waggs098]

About the only races I take interest in now are Nascar road courses. I had enough of turn left courses quite awhile back. Indy car has gotten a lot better and prefer road courses with Indy also.

I very much dislike nascar road courses. I think the oval is better for nascar. What has stopped me from watching nascar is now i need what like 3 different streaming platforms to really pay attention to the series? Yeah no thanks, not worth it.

F1 and indy cars really bore the hell out of me. Barely touch each other and WRECK, totaled cars.

What I can't figure out (at least in the USA) is why rally car circuit racing isn't bigger. 5 cars 5 laps and a joker lap. Tracks are a mix of pavement and dirt. They push and shove each other around. It is so fun to watch and the tracks are built for TV broadcast.

Point to point rally racing is very boring to me though. 1 car on 1 long stretch and way to difficult to broadcast. Like watching the Baja on TV, yeah no thanks.

Was sad to hear when Ken Block died thats for sure.

 

[Blue Shadow]

I very much dislike nascar road courses

Having driven my 4-door family sedan at Laguna Seca, Sears Point, Mid Ohio, Watkins Glen, Roebling Road and Pocono (road course setup), at speed, driving schools, NASCAR on road courses are interesting, seeing those cars on similar tracks. The 1-1.5 mile ovals are less interesting. The Bullring, Paperclip and the Big Ones have a bit of interest. But a lot of that sport with 5 lap cautions because of a hot dog wrapper is a total waste.

 

[waggs098]

Having driven my 4-door family sedan at Laguna Seca, Sears Point, Mid Ohio, Watkins Glen, Roebling Road and Pocono (road course setup), at speed, driving schools, NASCAR on road courses are interesting, seeing those cars on similar tracks. The 1-1.5 mile ovals are less interesting. The Bullring, Paperclip and the Big Ones have a bit of interest. But a lot of that sport with 5 lap cautions because of a hot dog wrapper is a total waste.

Nice. Thats pretty sweet.

I drove IMCA, Hobby Stock class. So short dirt oval. Local track type racing, 3/8 to 1/2 mile oval. Did that for 4 years.

 

[sanford12]

I very much dislike nascar road courses. I think the oval is better for nascar.

Oh my gosh how could I have been so wrong?

 

[waggs098]

Oh my gosh how could I have been so wrong?

Well we are all wrong once in a while.

 

[GChief]

Anyone excited about the 2026 F1 season?​

Yes, because of the rules changes and having another Merican' team

And having it on Apple TV just saved me $90 not subscribing to F1 TV

 

[RVT1K]

I very much dislike nascar road courses. I think the oval is better for nascar. What has stopped me from watching nascar is now i need what like 3 different streaming platforms to really pay attention to the series?

I was an avid NASCAR fan from childhood. Richard Petty is the reason I'm a MOPAR fan.

Now I can't stand it. There were two things that turned me away. The first was the "car of the future" or whatever they call it. What it really should be called is "spec chassis/body of the future". The second was the obvious manipulation. The current fan-darling is about to go a lap down?? Well then let's throw a yellow flag because there's a paper towel on the track or a car has spun on the backstretch and is on it's way again..better throw the yellow and bunch the field up.

 

[Blue Shadow]

better throw the yellow and bunch the field up.

Dang hot dog wrapper.

And now a 500 mile race is 3, 3, yes, 3 races in one so we can drop that yeller and load up the ads.

F1 is a damn race, slow down boys at turn 7 but keep racing otherwise. Safety determines the needs of the yellow, not the advertisers.

 

[Blue Shadow]

let's throw a yellow flag because there's a paper towel on the track or a car has spun on the backstretch and is on it's way again..better throw the yellow and bunch the field up.

Tony and Mike on PTI commented about the last lap chaos/crash and while watching live we’re saying they better not throw the yellow. Big track, plenty of time to slow down after the finish line and how about that the yellow stayed furled and they let the race finish as it should. Tony and Mike don’t talk racin much at all so this non-yellow was newsworthy and they noticed.

 

[RVT1K]

I only watched FP1 from China last night but I see the Merc team is 1-2 in sprint qualifying.
There also seems to be a bit of drama due to the factory Merc team being so much faster than their customers who are using their engines.
Ferrari's flipping wing is really cool and a neat idea. But apparently its not ready for prime time, they used it for FP1 but not SQ.

I read an interesting article on the Merc engine compression ratio saga. Although it wasn't quoting Merc engineers it did mention two things. The first suggested the alloy used for the pistons expanded in such a fashion as to increase the compression ratio once hot. The second -and more interesting- thing mentioned was a small chamber that was part of the combustion chamber, somewhere near the spark plug, that was separated by a very small passage. The speculation is that during a bench test, that small chamber fills with air during the compression stroke adding its volume to the total volume. BUT with the engine hot and running at speed, that chamber does not get filled due to the small passage not "having time" to allow the gasses to fill it. So now its volume is not being filled and you're effective compression ratio goes up.