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.

if Mercedes were going to have the best engine in 2026, why didn’t Lewis wait it out? As in if people already knew this?

I don't think Mercedes were prepared to give him a long term contract.

No but I think he wants that 8th title- he would have had a better chance of getting it with Mercedes and then they may have extended contract or he retires on a high

I thought the rumour was that Lewis jumped before he was pushed?

I would absolutely love to see him win his 8th, but sadly I’m not sure that it will happen

Moving on from Lewis :-) although unusually he currently seems to be sharing Charles's race engineer which isn't practical - in bad news and I hate this, Christian Horner is rumoured to be making a come back, he's buying a stake in Alpine ffs. In other bad news Williams aren't making the testing sessions next week, they have announced that they are pulling out - rumour has it that they failed the mandatory crash testing and had to strengthen their chassis which put them overweight, this is not good at this stage :-(

@AmplePlayer gutted for Williams.

As for CH, he was always going to come back and Alpine with Flávio could be interesting. Alpine are using Mercedes engines so they are a customer of Mercedes and Toto. I imagine CH won’t like having to negotiate with TW.

I hope Williams can sort their issues. I’ve got an each way bet on them

not good if CH is returning to F1.

CH having to negotiate with TW could probably fill a Drive to Survive episode on its own. It would be hilarious. Might teach the Apprentice candidates a thing or two. 😜 And would be a damn sight more interesting / relevant than F1 The Movie. Not sure I will ever get over how bad the plot was. That’s Hollywood I guess but 🙄😩

Good news Williams will be ready for Bahrain testing.
Mercedes and RB seem to be the teams to watch so far but very difficult to judge with so little info.

I took my mum to see Damon Hill in conversation last night.
So interesting and such a lovely man, as you would imagine.
Really interesting stories about being Senna's team mate (tragically for a very short time), working with Frank Williams, Patrick Head and Adrian Newey (F1 dream team), rivalry with Schumacher. Fascinating!

Also photos of when he was little. "Thats my christening" with Stirling Moss, Fangio, etc.
Brilliant, 30 years since he won the title.

Good news that Williams will be ready for Bahrain, slightly less good news is the rumour that their car is at least 10kg heavier than it needs to be and odd that James V called out in an interview that they passed the chassis crash tests weeks ago, when it appears that they failed the nose crash tests (which he didn't mention), but honestly good luck to Williams, I'd really love to see them do well this year, they're fighting with less money and resources and working hard.

Also in good news - Lewis topped the time sheet today :-) please no-one put a downer that, it makes me happy.

And gingercat02 a colleague of mine went to the Damon Hill evening a couple of weeks ago and said it was really good, i'm off to google now if he's doing any more talks close enough for me to go to.

Was lovely to see Lewis on BBC breakfast this morning. He seemed optimistic, which is good.
Also hoping for good things from Williams.

Yes lovely to see Lewis smiling again. I so hope he does well this year.

The impression I am getting is the car is more to Lewis’s liking. The ground effect cars really didn’t suit him or others.

The ability to open and close the front wing as well as the rear wing is going to be interesting. I wonder if drivers have the ability to operate them independently?

There’s some tabloid gossip that Lewis is dating Kim Kardashian! Not sure if it’s true.

I can’t see him wanting the publicity of it all.

Yes we will be there too! Can’t wait!

@workingcockerive just seen the same thing. Also hoping it’s not true, maybe he has a type as she’s not dissimilar to Nicole Scherzinger looks wise.

The papers are always linking Lewis with someone and it always seems to be untrue.

I really like Nicole Scherzinger and was hoping she would be the one for him but obviously not. Not sure about a Kardashian though. Thought Lewis would have more class

After Nicole Lewis has tried to keep his relationships out of the spotlight so I’m surprised he would date someone who has such a high media profile.

I really hope it's not true but I wish them luck to them if it is

It wasn't that long ago that they were linking him with someone else, who knows if its true. Kim Illman gave his predications for the upcoming season earlier today on youtube, in case anyone doesn't know who that is - he's a well known independent F1 photographer and he's bet on George for Drivers champion and actually George is the bookies favourite.

Old Flávio and Horner possibly back at Alpine… because that’s not toxic at all 😂 why not throw in Helmut Marko for a full house!

I follow Kym. I do think George is the favourite.

After testing I am planning to do my predictions. Not quite as detailed as Kym and Matt&Tommy. It’s a laugh to see how wrong I am. 😂

Lewis will win his 8th 🙏🏽. He would have really gone down in my estimate if he has hooked up with a Kardashian!

Me too @Truetoselfmind you I was no fan of Shirtswinger either. False. KK even more so!
I'm not entirely convinced Lewis is bothered about any kind of relationship - man or woman