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Anyone excited about the 2026 F1 season?

TSmith8605 said:
There were 500,000 at Silverstone
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Wasn’t this total weekend attendance?

F1 is going for more glitz and glam so well more celebs getting involved. This just brings more eyes and sometimes those eyes bring money, that is what Liberty Media Corporation is chasing.
 
My theory is that when car races first started at Monaco in the '30s the cars were much slower than current F1 cars - like maybe 30 or 40 MPH, so the track could handle the races and allow more passing etc. So Monaco was established as a premier and now historic venue. But now the track is just not up to 200-MPH cars - passing is nearly impossible. So to win the race you have to qualify at or near the front and then have some luck around pit stop strategies and other cars crashing. Otherwise, it's mostly cars going around in single file.

I think last year at Monaco, the two Williams cars (I think) were one in front of the other. The rear car (Sainz?) slowed down and, since no one could pass, backed up everyone behind him until the gap was large enough to allow his team mate ahead time to do a pit stop and not lose his position. If I recall correctly, after the race Sainz said "that's not racing."

But Monaco brings more spectacle, glamour, class and history than most (or any) other track and so is considered one of the top races of the year for any race series.

I think most F1 drivers don't like racing at Monaco. I think a primary dream of most F1 drivers is to win Monaco. Monaco will stay on the calendar and the racing won't be great.

I understand that a historic race is held at Monaco every summer. I think that would fun to attend- being there would be (maybe) less money and the historic race and cars would be very interesting and fun to watch racing.
 
Blue Shadow said:
Those three tracks would be very expensive to bring up to Grade 1 FIA specs. If the corkscrew is not grandfathered, might as well skip Laguna Seca. I would think it would stay. The Sears Point and Laguna Seca are currently Grade 2 tracks.
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OK, another reason they don't race here. Hard to believe that the strip meets FIA standards better than these tracks.
 
There has been a ton of conflict surrounding Laguna Seca and the chances of it ever holding a major motorsports event again are essentially zero.
I saw MotoGP there live and it was fantastic.
 
RVT1K said:
There has been a ton of conflict surrounding Laguna Seca and the chances of it ever holding a major motorsports event again are essentially zero.
I saw MotoGP there live and it was fantastic.
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Well, I've not heard that. I did go to the IMSA race in May; to one of the world's top historic races, the Motorsports Reunion (where Zak Brown races in early McLaren F1 cars) a couple of weeks ago; and will be at the Indy care season finale race there next weekend. Porsche brings their Rennsport Reunion there every few years which draws about 90,000 as does the Motorsport Reunion. The IMSA series is very similar to WEC and includes the 24 hours of Daytona and the 12 hours of Sebring. Those seem pretty major and I've heard nothing about them being cancelled in the future.

But I don't follow motor cycle racing but I guess they did lose MotoGP and now have something called MotoAmerica Superbike.

But what the 3 tracks really lack for F1 races (some of which could be addressed with $$) are on-property facilities like adequate garages for F1, on-site medical facilities including a safe place to operate a medevac helicopter, adequate hospitality spaces and grand stands and parking for 200,000. I think the tracks themselves would be fine in terms of width, run-off and safety, compared to many other on F1 calendar. The track was resurfaced a couple years ago and improved to further meet FIA standards.
 
TSmith8605 said:
Well, I've not heard that. I did go to the IMSA race in May; to one of the world's top historic races, the Motorsports Reunion (where Zak Brown races in early McLaren F1 cars) a couple of weeks ago; and will be at the Indy care season finale race there next weekend. Porsche brings their Rennsport Reunion there every few years which draws about 90,000 as does the Motorsport Reunion. The IMSA series is very similar to WEC and includes the 24 hours of Daytona and the 12 hours of Sebring. Those seem pretty major and I've heard nothing about them being cancelled in the future.

But I don't follow motor cycle racing but I guess they did lose MotoGP and now have something called MotoAmerica Superbike.

But what the 3 tracks really lack for F1 races (some of which could be addressed with $$) are on-property facilities like adequate garages for F1, on-site medical facilities including a safe place to operate a medevac helicopter, adequate hospitality spaces and grand stands and parking for 200,000. I think the tracks themselves would be fine in terms of width, run-off and safety, compared to many other on F1 calendar. The track was resurfaced a couple years ago and improved to further meet FIA standards.
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I wasn't aware of the other series racing there now.

Maybe I've been out of touch but I do recall a lot of issues over the track and who actually controls it. Isn't it actually located in some sort of parkland or owned by the county yet "run" by a different entity? I also recall that local residents complaining about noise coming from a racetrack that was there long before they bought their property. I thought serious noise restrictions came from that and put the kaybash on things.

While it was still on the calendar, Laguna Seca was a favorite of the American riders although I think being very familiar with it played a part. European riders at the time would often complain that the track was bumpy and maybe they had a point. It is also on the short and tight side.

MotoAmerica Superbike is what AMA Superbike morphed into after a slow, steady decline.
One of the reasons American MotoGP riders were so familiar with Laguna Seca was because it was a regular stop in the AMA Superbike series and most American GP riders came from that series. Way back when, the "natural" progression was Step 1: win at least one AMA Superbike Championship, Step 2: Get World Superbike ride, Step 3: win at least WSBK Championship, step 4: move to the GP's. I think Ben Spies was the last to do that and that was quite a while ago now. Today essentially everyone involved in Moto3, Moto2, or MotoGP comes from some European feeder series and there is very little American rider presance anymore.
 
RVT1K said:
I wasn't aware of the other series racing there now.

Maybe I've been out of touch but I do recall a lot of issues over the track and who actually controls it. Isn't it actually located in some sort of parkland or owned by the county yet "run" by a different entity? I also recall that local residents complaining about noise coming from a racetrack that was there long before they bought their property. I thought serious noise restrictions came from that and put the kaybash on things. . .
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Yes, the management changed a couple years ago, but the new people are doing OK.

For me this was a big thing: there was a concession in the paddock at bigger events called the Silverstone Pub where they sold craft beer in pint glasses for $9 and provided tables in shade - bring your lunch. This was my favorite place for a break between races or for lunch. But they closed starting last year and now we're stuck with $13 canned beer. I blamed the new track managers for this and complained to them but come to find out the guy who ran the pub got into his eighties and just retired. There have been other changes some for the better and some for the worse.

I'm not sure what happened to MotoGP races there but was aware of the loss.

It'sI've done multiple track days and parade laps there and did not find it particularly bumpy both before and after the resurfacing - but I was not on a light motorbike.

The track is sorta similar Zandvoort and in terms track length and curves to straights ratio but instead of banking you get the corkscrew. LS is several miles from the ocean but still close enough to be in (underlying) sand dune territory so sand on the track happens there, similar to Zandvoort.

Yeah, there was a guy bitching about the noise who started an organization of complainers - turned out to be only that guy. But the track does have noise restrictions that vary by event.

But the track brings a lot of money to the area especially during Monterey car week which is bracketed by vintage race weekends and features the Pebble Beach Concours and many other car shows, events and auctions. Tons of money in the area for that week from all over the world.

I think they will be around for awhile.

AI Overview

- WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca is operated by the non-profit organization Friends of Laguna Seca, which manages the facility under a long-term agreement with Monterey County.
- Management and Leadership: Mel Harder serves as the President and General Manager, overseeing day-to-day operations at the track.
- County of Monterey: Owns the land and the Laguna Seca Recreation Area, having awarded a multi-decade concession agreement to ensure the track's long-term viability and capital improvements.
 
It was a fantastic place to watch MotoGP. Great location and surrounding areas, great weather...

And friend and I camped there - between turns 9 and 10 as I recall. My friend knew a guy who had an RV and we camped on his spot for the weekend. Threw him some money and he took care of all the food and even the cooking. I also remember hot showers available to the campsite.

I've also done several track days -on my bike- but never at Laguna Seca.
 
Gasly and Alpine take pole at Monza!!??

www.motorsport.com

F1 Italian GP: Pierre Gasly takes shock maiden pole at Monza

The Alpine driver shocks the frontrunners to take his first-ever Formula 1 pole position at the Italian Grand Prix
www.motorsport.com www.motorsport.com

I guess that helps make up for the pit-lane-speeding-not-speeding-fiasco.

Due to the long straights, this is probably going to be a yo-yo race. Oh joy...



And Piastri looses third on the grid to a impeding penalty for getting in Lawson's way. Three grid places so Oscar starts 6th tomorrow.

Personally I'm ready to see F1 go back to single-car qualifying. The amount of drama and whining that comes from qualifying is getting old. Everyone insists on going out on track in one, big mob and then everyone complains that cars are in the way.
 
They just need to plan for it. Since everyone wants to go last to take advantage of the rubber on the track, the teams need to figure out if that advantage is as much as doing two hot laps. Extra fuel for the second lap also slows the car. But they have computers, figure it out. The go out in the last batch early enough for your second to count

And make everyone hot foot it to pitlane and then no impeding needs be called.

Not all ten cars can go out in the same 8 second time period.

Not missing F1 much this year.
 
That was an interesting race.

Big difference from the first time Kimi had his high school classmates at the race to watch him crash out on the first lap.
 
Monza spoiler alert....

Well that was an exciting one even with lots of yo-yo-ing.

Kimi starts from the back of the pack and WINS!! He did a great job of making it through the pack without getting into any trouble but Merc kinda hosed George by not pitting him under the VSC. Ferrari not pitting Hamilton was yet another "why are they doing that??" moment for Ferrari fans.

Lots of teammate squabbling, too. I think Leclerc had the corner and Hamilton was simply asking for trouble. Of course, Leclerc's day ended shortly after all that.
 
I agree with all the above posts about the Monza weekend so won't repeat it. Good race. Kimi nailed it.

But I remain frustrated with this battery / boost stuff. The drivers should have full power all the time so they can focus on racing and not video game strategy. I had an initial thought early in the season that this just adds more interest by challenging the drivers / teams with additional strategies and tactics. But I now see a couple of issues with that idea: one is, as I said, let the drivers drive and not play video game strategies. The other is that the strategies and tactics used are not very clear to the spectators so we feel left out of understanding what is happening and why - not only is it hard to understand, but the playing out of those battery boost strategies is not clearly presented to the fans during the race. (I.e., we all understand what's going on with the tires, weight fuel, etc.)

I have a way to go to understand this stuff enough to have opinions on who's doing what correctly and when, or whatever. I guess I could go read up on it somewhere, but I'm too lazy. The Sky commentators are trying to explain and cover it but I'm not sure even they have it all figured out yet. Just seems like you push boost, pass a guy and then have not boost and get passed back.

I was at the Indy Race at Laguna Seca over the weekend and so saw the contrast. The Indy cars are very fast with no hybrid stuff - the drivers just race. They are twin turbo cars which does muffle the engine noise - a complaint I remember from when F1 entered the turbo hybrid era.

Bring back NA V10s please. To advance the art, experiment with synthetic fuels instead of hybrids. Toyotas have been making hybrids for 25 year.
 
I agree that the current state of the mandated F1 powerplant is just dumb. I'm not a fan of the hybrid system in general but to put limits on how much you can charge the battery and then add some sort of "mundo-de-lux-super-boost" is madness.

I think that what I have been advocating lines up with what you would like to see... the car goes faster when the driver presses more on the accelerator pedal. Period. Nothing more. Let the driver decide how much and when to apply the power up to and including ALL of it.

Didn't Indy car have the "push-to-pass" system at one time? Some sort of temporary power-boost that could be applied only a limited number of times?

And although I am a fan of the adaptive aero that replaced DRS, I would prefer to see no limits on the use. Meaning a driver could enable it wherever on the track.
 
RVT1K said:
Didn't Indy car have the "push-to-pass" system at one time? Some sort of temporary power-boost that could be applied only a limited number of times?
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Yes, you're right. I don't really follow Indy racing closely other than attending the race the last couple of years when it was here so I did not know about this. So I looked it up:

From Wikipedia:
"IndyCar
In every non-oval race, drivers are budgeted between 150 and 200 seconds of extra power per race, to “on the button” at their discretion to either attempt a pass, defend from a car behind, or even decrease their lap times. These 200 seconds of extra power can be activated for up to 20 seconds at a time, giving drivers a minimum of 10 power deliveries per race."

I guess only 10 to 20-ish boosts per 2-hour race is not enough to trigger yo-yoing but still the same issue of artificial restrictions. It works by allowing a temporary increase in air intake rate - which means the potential is there all the time so let 'em race.

Next F1 stop this weekend is Madrid, I think a new track.
 
TSmith8605 said:
Next F1 stop this weekend is Madrid, I think a new track.
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Yes F1 is in Madrid this weekend and they are calling the new "track" Madring. I used quotes because it is -yet another- street circuit.

I just finished watching FP2. I'll watch qualifying live tomorrow morning.

One issue I noticed right away is almost any incident results in a red flag. I caught some of the F2 qualifying and two cars into the walls meant two red flags. There was also a red flag during FP2 for F1 as well when Lindblad tagged the wall. The track is a mix of some faster areas and some stupid tight chicanes. Many of the corners are blind due to walls that are a result of a street circuit. A lot of the on-board footage looks like it is a very bright tunnel. The only really interesting part is turn 12 called "La Monumental" which is a big, banked turn like at Zandvoort.

Due to the nature of the layout, I don't think there will be many issues with battery charging/status/etc...

Lando sat out the session with gearbox trouble
 
Madring spoilers...

Another big day for Antonelli despite leaving the track twice in the first lap. There was quite a bit of weaving and dodging at first but things quickly spread out. Max and Lewis tangled but it was all for nothing after Lewis retired with brake failure. Bad luck for Lando and the VSC. I was very surprised that there was only one and no red flags.

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.
 
It was another lost weekend for Colton Herta. Last week he got to drive the Caddy in FP1. It quit. Then he crashed in qualifying for the F2 races. The team elected not to race the Sprint or Feature.

This week he qualified 12th, not bad. Then the team posted, “Colton will not be racing today after continuing to feel unwell."

He may not get the points he needs for a Super License.

Bummer!
 
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