George Russell claimed his first Formula One sprint race win at the 2026 Chinese Grand Prix, maintaining his perfect start to the season after a closely fought contest that highlighted both Mercedes’ strengths and the evolving competitive order under the 2026 regulations.
It depends on whether or not they can make the macarena wing work.DJ Downforce wrote: ↑18 Mar 2026, 15:38I wonder how Suzuka will go for Ferrari. I expect that they will have the fastest sector 1 throughout the weekend but bleed time in sector 2 and particularly sector 3. I predict the gap to be 0.5 tenths in an optimistic world.
I think I saw Autoracer estimating a 0.3s gap, but who really knows.DJ Downforce wrote: ↑18 Mar 2026, 15:38I wonder how Suzuka will go for Ferrari. I expect that they will have the fastest sector 1 throughout the weekend but bleed time in sector 2 and particularly sector 3. I predict the gap to be 0.5 tenths in an optimistic world.
He also tweeted about Ferrari's upgrades after the australian gp and said Ferrari expect to close most of the gap to Merc with themThe cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia races has affected the teams' update plans.
Most teams had planned major updates for Bahrain. Now, they will use the 1-month break to bring more comprehensive packages to Miami.
Ferrari will also bring its major update to Miami. The team is particularly working to improve its performance on straights
I very much doubt they can achieve that with chassis upgrades alone.Luscion wrote: ↑18 Mar 2026, 16:53https://x.com/KemalSengulll/status/2034270798844666350He also tweeted about Ferrari's upgrades after the australian gp and said Ferrari expect to close most of the gap to Merc with themThe cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia races has affected the teams' update plans.
Most teams had planned major updates for Bahrain. Now, they will use the 1-month break to bring more comprehensive packages to Miami.
Ferrari will also bring its major update to Miami. The team is particularly working to improve its performance on straights
Is Mercedes just going to stand around during all this time? If Mercedes brings an equal step, the gap will remain the same.Luscion wrote: ↑18 Mar 2026, 16:53https://x.com/KemalSengulll/status/2034270798844666350He also tweeted about Ferrari's upgrades after the australian gp and said Ferrari expect to close most of the gap to Merc with themThe cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia races has affected the teams' update plans.
Most teams had planned major updates for Bahrain. Now, they will use the 1-month break to bring more comprehensive packages to Miami.
Ferrari will also bring its major update to Miami. The team is particularly working to improve its performance on straights
https://readmotorsport.com/2026/03/16/a ... 6-f1-rulesAccording to GPBlog, McLaren drivers have told the team that mistakes in a corner can sometimes reduce energy use. That saved energy can then be deployed later on the straight.
“Occasionally, there are comments from our drivers that once they make a mistake, it actually saves some energy,” Stella said. “Therefore, you go faster overall in a sector because the energy you saved with the delay in the throttle is going to reward you at the end of the straight.”
The idea runs against the usual values of top-level racing. Drivers train to remove mistakes from every lap. Stella openly acknowledged that tension.
“Obviously, this goes much more as to…do we want to be faithful to the DNA of racing in a traditional sense? Do we accept that this counter-intuitive situation belongs to the business or not?”
He framed the debate as a wider question for the sport. Stella said fans and drivers should also play a role in deciding how Formula 1 responds.
He did not call for immediate rule changes. Instead, he said the responsibility now sits with the sport’s leadership.
“It’s for F1 and the FIA now to collect the feedback, create a picture,” Stella said. “The tools to respond now exist.”
I think one also has to consider that these were Leclerc’s two worst tracks of the year (and arguably two of Hamilton’s strongest) - so you might argue that the gap to Mercedes is higher where he is not optimising; could it be that a Leclerc who’s comfortable is worth two tenths (effectively halving the gap to the front)?AR3-GP wrote: ↑18 Mar 2026, 19:11I agree with the theory that was presented here some pages ago. The reason Hamilton is close to Leclerc is because the importance of the corners has been killed in the new Formula. Now the key to a good laptime is hitting the energy recovery targets, not corner speeds. So as long as Hamilton can recover the same amount of energy as Leclerc in the lap, he's going to set the same laptimes.
https://readmotorsport.com/2026/03/16/a ... 6-f1-rulesAccording to GPBlog, McLaren drivers have told the team that mistakes in a corner can sometimes reduce energy use. That saved energy can then be deployed later on the straight.
“Occasionally, there are comments from our drivers that once they make a mistake, it actually saves some energy,” Stella said. “Therefore, you go faster overall in a sector because the energy you saved with the delay in the throttle is going to reward you at the end of the straight.”
The idea runs against the usual values of top-level racing. Drivers train to remove mistakes from every lap. Stella openly acknowledged that tension.
“Obviously, this goes much more as to…do we want to be faithful to the DNA of racing in a traditional sense? Do we accept that this counter-intuitive situation belongs to the business or not?”
He framed the debate as a wider question for the sport. Stella said fans and drivers should also play a role in deciding how Formula 1 responds.
He did not call for immediate rule changes. Instead, he said the responsibility now sits with the sport’s leadership.
“It’s for F1 and the FIA now to collect the feedback, create a picture,” Stella said. “The tools to respond now exist.”
I think that while these were not exactly Lecerc's favourite tracks, reality is as I said a few pages back, without incidents there will not be much separation between them. That will actually be the case across all the teams. These cars as they currently stand make it almost impossible for the drivers to make a difference.f1316 wrote: ↑19 Mar 2026, 00:09I think one also has to consider that these were Leclerc’s two worst tracks of the year (and arguably two of Hamilton’s strongest) - so you might argue that the gap to Mercedes is higher where he is not optimising; could it be that a Leclerc who’s comfortable is worth two tenths (effectively halving the gap to the front)?AR3-GP wrote: ↑18 Mar 2026, 19:11I agree with the theory that was presented here some pages ago. The reason Hamilton is close to Leclerc is because the importance of the corners has been killed in the new Formula. Now the key to a good laptime is hitting the energy recovery targets, not corner speeds. So as long as Hamilton can recover the same amount of energy as Leclerc in the lap, he's going to set the same laptimes.
https://readmotorsport.com/2026/03/16/a ... 6-f1-rulesAccording to GPBlog, McLaren drivers have told the team that mistakes in a corner can sometimes reduce energy use. That saved energy can then be deployed later on the straight.
“Occasionally, there are comments from our drivers that once they make a mistake, it actually saves some energy,” Stella said. “Therefore, you go faster overall in a sector because the energy you saved with the delay in the throttle is going to reward you at the end of the straight.”
The idea runs against the usual values of top-level racing. Drivers train to remove mistakes from every lap. Stella openly acknowledged that tension.
“Obviously, this goes much more as to…do we want to be faithful to the DNA of racing in a traditional sense? Do we accept that this counter-intuitive situation belongs to the business or not?”
He framed the debate as a wider question for the sport. Stella said fans and drivers should also play a role in deciding how Formula 1 responds.
He did not call for immediate rule changes. Instead, he said the responsibility now sits with the sport’s leadership.
“It’s for F1 and the FIA now to collect the feedback, create a picture,” Stella said. “The tools to respond now exist.”
But I hope that both Ferraris can be equally strong - my preference is always for whichever driver is most consistently capable of the best results (eg on the few occasions Massa was ahead of Alonso on the road, I wanted him out of the way because we knew he wouldn’t be able to sustain it every week, so it was only hurting the lead driver) and if that happens to be Hamilton this year, that’s just as good as if it’s Leclerc.
Interestingly, Ham was recovering more energy quicker than Leclerc during their battle. He had more in the battery at turn 1 and also The big straight. Something Peter Windsor also pointed out in his video review.AR3-GP wrote: ↑18 Mar 2026, 19:11I agree with the theory that was presented here some pages ago. The reason Hamilton is close to Leclerc is because the importance of the corners has been killed in the new Formula. Now the key to a good laptime is hitting the energy recovery targets, not corner speeds. So as long as Hamilton can recover the same amount of energy as Leclerc in the lap, he's going to set the same laptimes.
https://readmotorsport.com/2026/03/16/a ... 6-f1-rulesAccording to GPBlog, McLaren drivers have told the team that mistakes in a corner can sometimes reduce energy use. That saved energy can then be deployed later on the straight.
“Occasionally, there are comments from our drivers that once they make a mistake, it actually saves some energy,” Stella said. “Therefore, you go faster overall in a sector because the energy you saved with the delay in the throttle is going to reward you at the end of the straight.”
The idea runs against the usual values of top-level racing. Drivers train to remove mistakes from every lap. Stella openly acknowledged that tension.
“Obviously, this goes much more as to…do we want to be faithful to the DNA of racing in a traditional sense? Do we accept that this counter-intuitive situation belongs to the business or not?”
He framed the debate as a wider question for the sport. Stella said fans and drivers should also play a role in deciding how Formula 1 responds.
He did not call for immediate rule changes. Instead, he said the responsibility now sits with the sport’s leadership.
“It’s for F1 and the FIA now to collect the feedback, create a picture,” Stella said. “The tools to respond now exist.”
I can only assume that's with the added assumption that Mercedes don't bother bringing upgrades themselves.Luscion wrote: ↑18 Mar 2026, 16:53https://x.com/KemalSengulll/status/2034270798844666350He also tweeted about Ferrari's upgrades after the australian gp and said Ferrari expect to close most of the gap to Merc with themThe cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia races has affected the teams' update plans.
Most teams had planned major updates for Bahrain. Now, they will use the 1-month break to bring more comprehensive packages to Miami.
Ferrari will also bring its major update to Miami. The team is particularly working to improve its performance on straights
Mercedes appear close to Ferrari through higher speed corners, but Ferrari seemingly have an advantage through medium/low-speed corners.Matt2725 wrote: ↑19 Mar 2026, 03:34I can only assume that's with the added assumption that Mercedes don't bother bringing upgrades themselves.Luscion wrote: ↑18 Mar 2026, 16:53https://x.com/KemalSengulll/status/2034270798844666350He also tweeted about Ferrari's upgrades after the australian gp and said Ferrari expect to close most of the gap to Merc with themThe cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia races has affected the teams' update plans.
Most teams had planned major updates for Bahrain. Now, they will use the 1-month break to bring more comprehensive packages to Miami.
Ferrari will also bring its major update to Miami. The team is particularly working to improve its performance on straights
Regarding Suzuka, with the latest info that Merc are almost as quick as Ferrari through the corners after all and a lot quicker exiting corners (all while stresses the tyres much less throughout), I don't see a scenario where Ferrari can be reasonably close.
I think minimum half a second gap.
https://f1i.com/news/561452-lawson-hail ... oubts.html"For us, there were a few corners in which we struggled, but it was actually giving us a bit of a boost down the straight because we were off throttle through the corners and charging a bit more,” he explained.
Too early to jump to conclusions on Newey and Aston Martin. In fact based on what the staff are saying, he's a great leader and things are going quiet well outside of the Honda issues. I see them coming on strong mid-year and potentially a threat to Ferrari.f1316 wrote: ↑20 Mar 2026, 21:54It’s interesting to see the latest debacle at Aston Martin and think about how it relates to Newey/his decision not to join Ferrari (for the umpteenth time).
Putting aside the geographical aspect (“having” to move to Italy - as if that’s a downgrade from beautiful, sunny England…), the biggest reason Newey didn’t join Ferrari was lack of total autonomy. That’s the thing he always thought he wanted (throughout Williams and McLaren tenured in particular) and AM finally gave it to him, first as a managing partner and then even extending to include team principal. Seems like a case of “careful what you wish for”, no? All of the decision making Newey thought he wanted arguably distracted from what he does best.
I would suggest that what he really wanted was to be listened to on key decisions (which arguably Horner did a good job of for a long time) not actually have the responsibility for making them. Fred might well have been the perfect partner - someone supportive who would listen and value Newey while dealing with all the crap he didn’t want to (a Jean Todt type). Maybe it’ll all come good in the end but I can’t help but feel as if a successful stint at Ferrari would have been the perfect end to an amazing career and an environment which includes way more of the foundational tools to actually make that happen.
