F1 2026 - Watch along thread 2

[Brazilianadventure]

Welcome to thread 2.

Everyone is welcome to follow along with us.

That was certainly exciting but I’m gutted for George. I want to be pleased for Kimi but it feels a bit unfair

booing George is not right

Booing for George is not on. He did nothing wrong.

Booing George is awful. He must be upset enough without that.

George was let down by Mercedes. Terrible.

Those fans should be ashamed

I agree. In the past Lewis has been booed in Italy.

I think Lando was booed in Brazil last year.
Why would "fans" boo George? (Tbf I dont know why they boo anyone, but in this case George almost had the win taken away from him?)

I can only presume the Tifosi see him as a rival to Kimi.

the only time I’d ever boo a driver (& even then I probably wouldn’t) would be if he’d done something dreadful to win or was something like a known sex pest etc.

At football I’d boo a player on the opposing team who kept commuting nasty deliberate fouls but never a player just for doing their job.

I'd assume he was booed because he sunk kimmi into the gravel. It was obvious Georges tyres had gone off and Kimi was rapidly catching.
Mclaren should have pitted someone. I'm a Lando fan but thought Oscar was the better driver today and he should have been 4th.

Whereas I thought Lando had the pace to catch Max and Oscar didn't, but the yo-yoing stopped him

George was booed at Zandvoort after the sprint as well.

Poor Charles! It’s worrying that he couldn’t see from his right eye when he crashed.

And it is really shit to boo someone when they don’t deserve it.

So when Lewis left Mercedes, did he not know about how good they would be with the new regulations? Seems everyone else knew! Even if they only offered him a short extension of two years, he only needed one to clinch the 8 to title……..

as nice as it is being in red, Ferrari have been such a joke strategy wise that if you were a top driver, why would you choose to join Ferrari? Especially if you are not taking any of your own people that is going to make a difference in the race?

in the last two races, it is Ferrari/ Charles that cost Lewis.

Yeah it was a scary crash and Charles was rattled and wanted out of the car ASAP. Would this crash have happened in another track? I don’t think so! He was so desperate for performance at Monza. And hey, I don’t blame him. If you are a Ferrari fan, you have to experience Monza!

I am not a George fan and have nicknamed him “Princess George “ amongst my family - but I don’t understand why he was booed. I think Lando was booed last year due to McLaren favouring him and asking Oscar to give the place back. And in the same token, I do feel that Mercedes are favouring George.

I think the course of the companionship changed last year at Monza and it’s the same again this year. Lewis seems to have given up any hope of challenging for the championship- forgetting that Max came back from around 100 points down to still being in the mix at the last race

Toto would only give Lewis a 1 year contract with an option for a second year. This is because Toto wanted Kimi and George in the car as they were the future.

Lewis was ignored at Merc in 2022 when he said they needed to change the car development direction. They finally realised he was right but it took another year.

Lewis had raced for Fred in junior formulas and I think he needed a change. He knew 2025 would be painful but as he says the 2026 car has his DNA.

The Ferrari has a good chassis it’s the engine power that’s the problem. Ferrari were also penalised by the FIA for having worked out the turbo start issues. The FIA changed the rules nullifying Ferraris advantage at the start.

There is something magical about Ferrari and Michael’s legacy.

thanks for your input @Brazilianadventure! I came to Monza as a Lewis fan, thinking I would be happy if either Ferrari or Antonelli wins, as the crowd would be happy. However, today I feel sad . Lewis has now given up and whatever Ferrari does now, it will be too late

am not a George fan and have nicknamed him “Princess George “ amongst my family - but I don’t understand why he was booed. I think Lando was booed last year due to McLaren favouring him and asking Oscar to give the place back. And in the same token, I do feel that Mercedes are favouring George

Is that a typo, I feel like Mercedes are definitely favouring Kimi
I think George has been unlucky (several mechanical issues) but yesterday I think they should have pitted him, but favoured Kimi

agreed, is that’s a typo. They definitely seem to favour Kimi.

Kimi was wow yesterday, really wow.

Yes sorry, that was a typo. They favour Kimi. In which case it doesn’t explain why George was booed

For me, it's the fact that it somes on top of being asked to give Kimi P2 in Zandvoort and all the other bad luck that George has had that gives me a sour taste. In any other circumstance I wold be ecstatic for Kimi winning his home race. But this all feels wrong.

Agree. Before the race Toto talked down Kimis chances of winning from p19.
It was undeniable he had a brilliant race but when they had the chance to pit one driver, imo it should have been George. Kimi would likely still have got a podium (especially considering MacLaren and Ferrari chose not to pit) and still have a very healthy lead in the drivers standings.

And I don't care what internal rules they had about when a driver DNF's. Not turning up at the podium for George's 100th race was unforgivable.

Oscar and Lando didn't always agree with the papaya rules but they respected them. It seems like Ferrari and Mercedes need to make some rules themselves. Clearly both teams are favouring one driver.

I think George is now on the receiving end of the same treatment that Mercedes gave Lewis in his last season with them when they were clearly favouring George. What goes around comes around but I think it’s very wrong of Toto and Mercedes.

@HundredMilesAnHour I don’t think Mercedes were favouring George over Lewis. At first Lewis was testing the car and then realised he is not going to get on with it. At that point maybe he checked out as well? And once he decided to go to Ferrari, they should favour George but I don’t think it was obvious.

Thing is George has been unlucky with reliability issues which is to do with Mercedes rather than George.

and the way they treated him last year was appalling!

However, Kimi is something special! Toto can’t help favouring him as he is a generational talent as are Max and Lewis