18 yo Arvid Lindblad looks the real deal.

Six British(-ish) drivers: Lewis, George, Lando, Albon (?), Ollie, and Arvid.

Still think VCARB has the best livery.

 

"This is gaming, not racing."

 

Vcarb does look best on track.

 

Still not sure if I liked the race and these cars. It was...weird.

 

Racing Bulls livery is great. But why is their air box so large?

 

 

https://www.grandprix.com/news/byd-e...otorsport.html

A 12th team would be great. Had to look it up. The last time F1 had 12 teams was 2012.

 

I'd think Formula E would be more their wheelhouse.
But more's better. Assuming they'd be a PU customer, not making their own.

 

Why would they be a customer? They can surely make their own PU.

 

Same here, I was a Crofty/Kravitz/Martin Brundle listener for the longest time, but in the last season or two, switched over to the F1 commentators and they're not too bad.. I like Alex Jacques, him Jolyon Palmer and the occasional David Coulthard commentary has been great... Sam has some good technical breakdowns and I don't mind Alex Brundle (Martin's kid) commentary as well.



Sure beats Rosberg and Danica Patrick,.

Give 'em a shot ya oldies they might surprise you...

 

I thought they were EV only, I see they made some ICE & PHEV vehicles, too.

 

Sums up the current formula perfectly.

 

 

Mercedes is miles out front after SQ. Might be a long race weekend.

 

Anyone up for the Chinese GP sprint?

 

Yep. Very fun opening laps.

 

Yeaaaah, I'm not sure about all of this.

Sure, the leader changes and battling are fun (like a sugar high), but the overtake boost just seems so artificial.

 

Gremlins hampered George in qualy.

Now it's happening to McLaren just before the race starts in Shanghai.

 

Yeah, shocking amount of DNFs.

 

I love it. F1 needs chaos.

Who'd have thought that the Astons would beat the McLarens in a race?

 

I hated it in Australia, but I think it did better in China.

Pros: It made the racing more visually interesting, at least for a short while until (I suspect) the tires determined the outcome. It appears to me that the Ferraris were able to keep up with the Mercedes by swapping back and forth until their tire performance dipped. Or until they couldn't maintain a certain draft boost.
Cons: It is somewhat artificial.

In the end, the better car still won out. Alternatively, without the boosts, we would have had a single race lead change and that would have been the end of it. So the biggest benefit is it dragged out the fight longer than it would have.

This reminds me of the Handford device in IndyCar back in the 90s. It provided an artificial passing boost. At first, people were raving about how great the racing was. You'd get like 5 race lead changes in one lap. But after awhile, it became somewhat "boring" because the car behind would be guaranteed to make a pass. Not sure if this F1 boost era will be similar to the IndyCar Handford era. Will people get tired of it eventually?

 

Good to see the Cadillacs in the upper teens.

The de-rating on the long straights is still weird, hearing them wide open but slowing just seems odd.

 

If I'm not mistaken, PIA hasn't run a lap yet in '26. (partially his own fault)

 

In the GP, correct. He did complete the Sprint.

 

Piastri might have missed his only chance at the championship last year.

 

It is surprising how much McLaren seems to be struggling. With them and Williams having the same PU as Mercedes, I'd at least have expected more pace out of the McLaren. Alpine sure seems to be enjoying the boost.

 

Somehow they showed a lot of Cadillac during the coverage. These cars looks even more soulless than the pre-season press photos. I think that I prefer the neon KICK Sauber livery than the washed out Cadillac while/black look.

 

I do wish the Cadillac livery had some more color. But I'd trade all the color for a bit more pace
Good on them to finish the GP with both cars, though.

 

https://racer.com/2026/03/16/alonso-...-gp-retirement

Alonso: “I could not probably finish the race anyway. The vibrations level were very high. At one point, from lap 20 to 35, I was struggling a little bit to feel my hands and my feet. We were one lap behind, we were last, and it was probably no point to keep on going.”

Egads.

 

It's crazy how hard Honda has it after the years of RBR/Honda dominance.

 

It's baaad. Seriously baaaad. Like, a genuine threat to the health of their own drivers. How did Honda and AM fk things up so badly in the development process? There's a juicy story to be told here, I bet.

 

Well, there's already bits and pieces.

1. Newey arrived late and dictated that Honda change the engine architecture to fit his (late) chassis direction.
2. Honda got rid of all of its experienced F1 engineers and basically restarted from scratch.

 

Wow, those two points alone are bad enough to explain how the ball was actually fumbled so badly!

I wonder if Newey's late arrival at AM was due to "gardening leave" rules?

 

Here's the article. You will need Google translate:
https://www.as-web.jp/f1/1293808?all

 

I have that vibe as well. With him contracted thru 2028, wondering if it'll go the distance.

 

Lmfao Newey is demoted at AM, Wheatley to come from Audi.

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/a...ipal/10806482/

Would Binotto bring Horner in or go a different direction?

 

^ LOL, I was wondering when the Newey as TP would fall apart. It is ironic that Wheatley is coming in as TP and Newey going back to what he does best being TD. Also Wheatley over Horner as perhaps they have a better relationship and the true TP at AM is Lawrence Stroll. Honda did predict back in January that 2026 would going to be a difficult year for them. Things are so bad at HRC that the MotoGP budget is being pilfered to go to the F1 engine program.

 

Didn't AM always say that Newey as TP was only a temporary situation? So this wasn't a shock, but it just looks chaotic.

 

They did, but at the announcement late last year they were saying it would be for the 2026 season.

I have to wonder if the reports from Japan that he pushed on Honda to repackage their PU at the 11th hour are true. If so, Alonso must be spiraling wondering why me.

 

Alonso used up his entire lifetime supply of luck before he turned 25. He basically used up his electrical boost by the 3rd corner of the lap.