F1 2026 - Watchalong Thread

[Brazilianadventure]

Happy New Year.

This is going to be an interesting year with the regulation change.

Rumours are Mercedes and RB engines are exploiting a loophole and so may have the most powerful engines.

AM will have a car with significant input from Adrian Newey.

Sauber becomes Audi and we have an 11th team, Cadillac.

Christian Horner seems very keen to get back into F1, preferably Alpine with Flávio - they deserve each other.

There is closed door testing in Barcelona then open testing from 11 February at Sakhir.

Edited for typo and thread title.

It's Race Week! Finally 😍🏎🏁

Thank goodness. The trouble is there is another mini break until Canada.

It looks like the contingency for AD in December is Jeddah. only time will tell.

Miami is a bit of a reset as the break has allowed a lot of analysis of the data, a tweaking of the rules along with planned developments.

I wonder what we will get for the drivers parade, the Lego cars were epic last year.

FP1 extended by 30 mins. Max popping a fast last lap to go P2.😂

Its a sprint weekend so qually tonight.

In other news Allan McNish appointed Technical Director at Audi.

I love the purple race suits the Merc drivers are wearing.

Top 4 teams seem to be close with McLaren making a leap forward.

Definitely not looking like Mercedes are going to walk it any more! Interesting to see Kimi out qualifying George in that last session, I wonder if it will start to bother George more if it keeps happening as the season goes on.

Sad news Alex Zanardi has died.

https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12433/13539114/alex-zanardi-former-formula-1-driver-and-paralympic-gold-medallist-dies-aged-59

Alex was so brave after the crash that changed his life but turned it around and became a Paralympic champion in the hand bike. It was so cruel he then had an accident when training.

Sad about Alex, he was such a strong character.
Sprint was dullsville!

Race time has been brought forward to avoid the rain. 6pm BST. Just in case anyone misses the news.

Thanks @gingercat02! I’m out later (would just have been back in time for the original start time) so now I know that I need to avoid all social media, news etc from 6pm instead so it doesn’t spoil my race viewing later tonight.

It doesn’t matter how hard I try with my self-imposed F1 news blackout when I can’t watch a race live, there’s always some way the result leaks out grrr. Last time it was 2 blokes talking in the queue at Sainsbury’s 🙄(I’d popped in on the way home from work to grab some food and was literally 2 mins and 150 metres away from putting the race on my TV). I wanted to cry. First and only time in my life I’ve ever heard mention of F1 in the supermarket dammit. 😂

Will the race still be on?

I’m on tenterhooks. Clearly no one wants to cancel the race due to the 2 cancelled races we’ve had. I think it’ll go ahead but all bets are off as to the outcome. The more experienced drivers clearly have an advantage in the wet.

Looks like we are go, but if there is lightening within 8 miles of the circuit they will red flag the race. Bonkers

🤞no lightening.

Loved Martin’s grid walk. It’s so lovely the famous f1 fans who know him are all so keen to talk.

Patrick Dempsey 😍

That took ages to put out the safety car.

Oof, that was an entertaining(!) start to the race.

And after seeing all the replays, my main thought is: just how many cars did Max make contact with / try to force off the track?!

It’s all happening in this race

Lando just seems more confident in moving forward. I think winning the WDC really gave him a boost.

The Ferrari is just so underpowered on the straights. If they can sort that out it’s a good car.

George really isn’t doing well this season.

Kimi on the radio to Bono with all his worries 🤗
Whatever they do wrong Mercedes do know how to look after their young drivers.

Well done Kimi.

Unlucky for Charles but George did well to take advantage.

Max ground out a good result.

Leclerc 🫣😱

I wonder if it’s an aero problem for Leclerc. His wing closed half way down the straight. Then opened towards the end

Nice to see both Williams in the points.

What a great ending.