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.

Well predicted - lap 1 for George.

George sounded heartbroken in that mini interview. Feel so sorry for him.

Well done Kimi, Charles & Max.

Lando and Isaak both did well.

I hope Lewis doesn’t get another penalty - the lack of wing adjustment was enough.

I really feel for George, this should have been his year after being so patient for years at Williams then poor Mercs.

Poor George. I feel really sorry for him.

Race week again then into the summer break.

It looks like the FIA are planning to switch some of the later races e.g. Abu Dhabi to safer venues e.g. Malaysia. Given The Donald has upped the war with Iraq it makes sense.

There is a lot of talk about engines and deployment of electrical energy, to be honest some of this goes over my head, and what needs to change to bring it closer to true F1.

I'd love to see Sapang back on the calendar. We were in Kuala Lumpur about about 10 years ago and could see signs for the circuit on taxi from airport. Taxi driver told us a lot of much needed jobs were lost when they lost the F1 race

Just seen a pic that suggests there might be a little le clerc soon?

It’s 40 years since the Hungaroring first hosted F1. They have named the corners

Half of the corners are named after F1 legends, including Nelson Piquet, Lewis Hamilton, Nigel Mansell, Jean Alesi, Michael Schumacher, Ayrton Senna and Ferenc Szisz.

Plus Lewis, Nigel Mansell and Jean Alesi have had hand prints taken to be a permanent feature.

I have suspected for a while but the picture with the picnic Birkin covering her bump is iconic. 😍

For those who don’t know Princess Grace famously covered her baby bump with a Hermes Kelly bag.

time for Q3

For some reason I thought quali was at 4pm. Just turned on for the last bit of Q3.

Well done Lando. Ferraris doing well. I would have liked to see Lewis on Pole but Lando has had a difficult season through no fault of his own.

I was hoping George had a better weekend but its not looking promising so far.
Looks like McLaren are improving a bit, disappointed for the ones including Kimi, George and OP who were impeded by the yellow flag.

Disappointed for George & Oscar

Delighted for Lando, George has no luck at the moment 😢

Looks like Lewis may get a penalty for blocking Oscar.

New power unit for George. Will that be a penalty ? How many has he had.

As expected a 3 place grid penalty for Lewis.

@Comefromaway I think George may get a penalty unless it is just a water/hydrolics leak
.

Been a great weekend so far. Very organised and friendly.
We're sat in pit exit 1 so can see first corner where theres been quite a few incidents/near misses.
Was pleased to see Alonso through to Q2. Hadjar and Lindblad have been doing well at times.
Ferrari seemed more dominant yesterday but today it seemed it was more unpredictable.

Just popped up on my Instagram feed that OP is now P3, Kimi got a grid penalty as well!

they’ve been lenient. 3 grid drop rather than the usual five.

What is the final starting grid?

I agree they have been lenient.

Sky are reporting the starting order as
Lando
Charles
Oscar
Max
Lewis
George
Kimi

It’s fair for Oscar as he starts ahead of Lewis. Kimi’s penalty was for a yellow flag infringement.

Here’s the decision notice for Kimi’s yellow flag penalty, with the rationale for the more lenient 3 place grid drop:

My daughter tells me Lando got a heavier penalty in the past with similar mitigation.

should be an exciting race tomorrow. Hope they can sort George’s car out.