2026 Formula One Season Thread

[m..]

It was an interesting race.
Half way through just before the Mercedes cars pitted it seemed to me like they would have real problems with their tires at the end, so I was looking forward to seeing LH try to get past them. The VSC solved that problem but there still seemed to be plenty of other drivers doing good things further back,

 

[Madonepro]

It was an interesting race.
Half way through just before the Mercedes cars pitted it seemed to me like they would have real problems with their tires at the end, so I was looking forward to seeing LH try to get past them. The VSC solved that problem but there still seemed to be plenty of other drivers doing good things further back,

I think I speak for most F1 enthusiasts when I say, the more teams and drivers that are competitive, the more enjoyable the spectacle.

 

[JustinePaula]

I don't really care who wins the title, it has zero value, there are too many points, too many races, and the seasons tend to blend into each other.. The F1 drivers title has no value, it is just that, something you have for a couple of months, until the circus starts, then basically, everyone starts on 0 points...

No one, apart from Kimi A, wants the season to end before the last race.. Having the title sewn up early is boring.. It is great to see the pensioners justifying their position in F1... Although I think a person from Spain and Canada really should have done the Lemons 24 hour.. WEC is way better for the older more experienced "gentlemen" drivers...

A pity some idiot parked both events on the same weekend.. Next weekend is zero events... a pity!!

 

[pachyderm]

The current points system is ridiculous.

 

[JustinePaula]

To me, points should have less value, not more.. In my mind, I see F1 like golf, the whole point of golf, in stroke play, is to play 4 rounds in as few strokes as possible...

So F1 does the same.. A bit like that annoying "Pointless" tv game show on the island..
F1: 1st 1 point, 2nd 2 points and so on....A DNF is 30 points...

The teams should be aiming for as few points/penalties as possible..

Speeding in the pit lane, instead of time, 3 points per offence..
Track limits, each offence is 1 point if you reach 4 offences per race...

That way you value each point as it so hard to scrub them away.. You don't want, so you work harder to not get points..

Right now the gap is too wide 1st to 2nd... Then after 4th, points have no real value other than for the budget in the next season...

So you will work harder to not leave your laptops on the track at T-15 seconds...
You will set the pit speed to 79.4 kph...

In theory it makes a lot more sense...You will try the 3rd to 2nd instead of coasting, as each point will cost a lot more...

Kimi A: 5 points then a 30 point hit, 35 points, instead of 6... yikes that is rough, but now with his lead, he could have sat back, rested.. No harm, no foul...

But start and take a 30 point hit, teams will work harder to protect the car... 30 points is a lot to throw away.. When you are aiming for a magic 24 points... 1 per race...

 

[pdacton]

The current points system is ridiculous.

People have complained about the F1 points system since the beginning of time. In the 80's it went from 9-6-4-3-2-1 to 10-6-4-3-2-1 because people wanted winners to be rewarded more. Then when one driver dominated and the season was over with 5 races left to run, they changed it again to make it more exciting to the end of the season. Worst of all was when you could only include your best 11 results, which cost Prost 1 additional World Championship. I don't think you'll ever have a system that pleases everyone - the current one seems basically ok to me.

 

[JustinePaula]

Hahahahaha...It is like trying to herd cats... Or which is better tomato sauce or ketchup????
There have been seasons that just defy every logic, Prost's loss, or Lewis's loss...

The dropped results, yeah, that took a PHD in Mathematics to understand.. We had the points for fastest lap, then double points... No harm in trying the 1 to 22, 30 for a DNF..

Actually the 1 for 1st, 2 for 2nd... actually helps the lower teams more than the better teams, think about this, you have the Aston Martins running around picking up 20 points, reliable 1 lap down, and they end up with fewer points than say McLaren with a couple of DNF.. That surely has to be a good thing???

The system of points now, hurts the lower teams, more than the points help...

So you try really really hard to not DNF, as a DNF is stupid expensive, where as a finish pays off for reliability..

Think of it like this, 3 x DNF 90 points, 3x20th is 60 points... Which is better at the end in a system of fewer points pays more???

 

[Apple fanboy]

They should have 1 point for the fastest lap and 1 point for most overtakes in a race (excluding team mates).

 

[Madonepro]

They should have 1 point for the fastest lap and 1 point for most overtakes in a race (excluding team mates).

The former used to exist but was misused. A driver, with no traffic pit's with 3 laps to go, get's fresh tyres and posts a fastest lap.

 

[Apple fanboy]

The former used to exist but was misused. A driver, with no traffic pit's with 3 laps to go, get's fresh tyres and posts a fastest lap.

But what’s wrong with that? Fun too watch no?

 

[Pezimak]

Just managed to watch the Monaco GP, yeah bit behind lol. But what a messed up race! And IMO George Russell should be disqualified and removed from his position as the leader for driver safety, what a hypocrite, fails to serve his penalty but then gets so annoyed on the restart after the red flag he bunches the field up seemingly out of spite! Well I have another race to watch tomorrow if I can, although I think I know who won it. Glad Hadjar came third, I think? I don't really know with all the penalties flying around.

 

[m..]

Just managed to watch the Monaco GP, yeah bit behind lol. But what a messed up race! And IMO George Russell should be disqualified and removed from his position as the leader for driver safety, what a hypocrite, fails to serve his penalty but then gets so annoyed on the restart after the red flag he bunches the field up seemingly out of spite! Well I have another race to watch tomorrow if I can, although I think I know who won it. Glad Hadjar came third, I think? I don't really know with all the penalties flying around.

I think we are still not totally sure who will end up with third place right now. As teams are still appealing the result or appealing the appeals or something.

 

[m..]

Hahahahaha...It is like trying to herd cats... Or which is better tomato sauce or ketchup????
There have been seasons that just defy every logic, Prost's loss, or Lewis's loss...

The dropped results, yeah, that took a PHD in Mathematics to understand.. We had the points for fastest lap, then double points... No harm in trying the 1 to 22, 30 for a DNF..

Actually the 1 for 1st, 2 for 2nd... actually helps the lower teams more than the better teams, think about this, you have the Aston Martins running around picking up 20 points, reliable 1 lap down, and they end up with fewer points than say McLaren with a couple of DNF.. That surely has to be a good thing???

The system of points now, hurts the lower teams, more than the points help...

So you try really really hard to not DNF, as a DNF is stupid expensive, where as a finish pays off for reliability..

Think of it like this, 3 x DNF 90 points, 3x20th is 60 points... Which is better at the end in a system of fewer points pays more???

It's not necessarily better from an entertainment point of view. If one car gets a substantial lead in the middle of the championship they are going to drive very slowly and carefully for the rest of the year, since there is not much difference between 5th and 1st.

Sailing races use similar scoring. The most common is 1 point for the winner, increasing by 1 each place after. Then if you don't finish etc your points are for total entries + 1.
And they usually get to discard the worst results of the series e.g drop the worst 2 of 10. Which helps cancel out a bit of bad luck.

 

[Madonepro]

It's not necessarily better from an entertainment point of view. If one car gets a substantial lead in the middle of the championship they are going to drive very slowly and carefully for the rest of the year, since there is not much difference between 5th and 1st.

Sailing races use similar scoring. The most common is 1 point for the winner, increasing by 1 each place after. Then if you don't finish etc your points are for total entries + 1.
And they usually get to discard the worst results of the series e.g drop the worst 2 of 10. Which helps cancel out a bit of bad luck.

You also need to include the constructors championship to the mix, as the push to maximise points in the competition is vital to the manufacturers.
Points = Money, and F1 isn’t cheap!

 

[m..]

You also need to include the constructors championship to the mix, as the push to maximise points in the competition is vital to the manufacturers.
Points = Money, and F1 isn’t cheap!

That would be amusing if they forgot to invert the points money relationship and all the teams were desperately trying to come last.

 

[Madonepro]

That would be amusing if they forgot to invert the points money relationship and all the teams were desperately trying to come last.

Funny, Perhaps! Likelihood, Zero.

 

[Pezimak]

I think we are still not totally sure who will end up with third place right now. As teams are still appealing the result or appealing the appeals or something.

It's falling apart like the track was... I think the teams have a VERY good right to appeal validity the race, considering the track was falling to pieces causing drivers to crash. VERY bad they did not see it earlier and stop the race. It almost looked like the average British road it was so bad lol.

 

[JustinePaula]

Yes, they have a very strong case for having Monaco cancelled, but not for the reason of the track, you see, in order for there to be a winner, you need to know who won, and when, without the right equipment, you cannot have a race... It is like the world cup soccer, not having a referee... No ref, no game... No time-keeping equipment, no race...

Monaco did not have a valid calibrated system for time-keeping, thus there was never a race, and any result should not be valid under any circumstance, teams that suffered damage, have every right to sue for the costs. It was an illegal event.

 

[Glideslope]

I think we are still not totally sure who will end up with third place right now. As teams are still appealing the result or appealing the appeals or something.

I’ll tell you who’s in 3rd place. The FIA.

 

[JustinePaula]

In the race to the bottom of the long drop latrine, hard to tell who is in the lead...

 

[fmenard]

I’ll tell you who’s in 3rd place. The FIA.

Third place out of two.

 

[Glideslope]

Fascinating deep dive into the Wheel Wars........

 

[JustinePaula]

Rim wars?
What next, a steering wheel war?
Underpants war? Save weight wear sexy lingerie!!!
Drinks bottle war???

We need cars with only ICE, and 2 or 3 major tyre brands..
If you want to race in F1, you have to bring the kit, the whole kit.. By kit I mean, you design and build everything, ICE, tub, transmission.. No hybrid... All ethanol fuel.. Batteries for the laptops only...

No customer cars, if you are a customer then you are in F1.5... A 2nd tier championship.. Every team builds everything in house.. you cannot use any component from another team.

 

[CWallace]

Max is in the news again, as rumors swirl on whether or not he will be with Red Bull in 2027 as his Exit Clause will almost certainly trigger come the summer break as he will almost certainly not be in the top two of the WDC.

One rumor says that Red Bull is offering to buy out that clause for a few tens of millions of dollars. Another says they are willing to offer Max a controlling interest in Racing Bulls. There have been reports of interested parties offering billions to purchase Racing Bulls and take them independent, but RB corporate has no interest in selling as the benefits of owning two teams is worth far more. So by letting Max invest into the team, they can keep it in the family (as I would expect that any sale would give Red Bull Gmbh right of first refusal to purchase it back should Max decide to sell his stake later on). That being said, such a share would run over a billion USD, which is multiples of Max's net worth so it would require significant outside investment support. As such, LawVS feels this is not going to happen.

RUMOR MILL: Red Bull May Give Max Verstappen A Formula 1 Team - AutoSpies Auto News

RUMOR MILL: Red Bull May Give Max Verstappen A Formula 1 Team

www.autospies.com

Red Bull grant Verstappen eight-figure payout to stop him triggering exit clause

Surely it's worth it?

www.f1oversteer.com

 

[CWallace]

Mercedes have formally withdrawn their Right of Review request of the penalties applied to George Russell during the Monaco Grand Prix.

Mercedes withdraw Right of Review request over Monaco result

Mercedes have announced that they have withdrawn their Right of Review request over the results of the Monaco Grand Prix.

www.formula1.com

Wolff knew going in that he had no chance - and said as much in interviews. However, as LawVS noted in his video on the subject yesterday, Wolff filed the appeal just to ensure that he would have a "seat at the table" should any discussions about revising the appeals process be discussed during those hearings. You know, since he was the only Team Principal to not be at the "table" when the appeals process was being discussed during Alpine's hearing.

As for the appeals filed by Red Bull and McLaren, I expect those to continue forward. Both have filed with the FIA International Court of Appeal, which is a higher body than the one that Alpine won their appeal at (and I believe is the same body Mercedes had filed with) and therefore has the power to overturn Alpine's appeal. And if successful, that would restore Hadjar to 3rd and Oscar to 4th (and even third if their appeal is granted and Red Bull's is denied).