2026 Japanese Grand Prix - Suzuka, March 27 - 29

[DJ Downforce]

In my fantasy F1 predictions I have LH for the win & CL for pole, just something about how the Ferrari has the beating of Mercedes through every corner so far this year; a combination of downforce, ride height and less lag (from the smaller turbo).

Mercedes will dominate sector 2 and 3. Ferrari only have a chance if it rains

[LeQuick]

lol, F1 must be the only fanbase where you are told by "purists" what and what not to enjoy.

I'm sure a lot of us were bored by the 2023 dominance or the lack of on track action during the last 2 years but we sucked it up and tried to enjoy it. Now it's time for others to do the same in my opinion....

But you are only "enjoying" things because you feel your driver has found a resurgence. If he and his team were nowhere I suspect you would have a different opinion on these regs.

Here we go again with people telling me and others why we're enjoying things

The racing up and down the field has been great, it's nothing to do with my "driver" you claim I support...

It's that great most of the drivers are moaning about it. My favourite driver has aired his displeasure at a regs that is holding him back. They basically reward you for driving like gran to the shops, amazing.

[basti313]

In my fantasy F1 predictions I have LH for the win & CL for pole, just something about how the Ferrari has the beating of Mercedes through every corner so far this year; a combination of downforce, ride height and less lag (from the smaller turbo).

I'm not sold. Whatever time Ferrari gains in the corners will be lost in the back half of the circuit when Mercedes deploys for longer. It's not a good idea to race through the corners of S1. You want to make time for harvesting whether that is by delaying throttle to get part-throttle harvest or superclipping.

I would change my opinion if Ferrari gets the macarena wing to work. I think there's a lot of laptime in that because it increases energy efficiency.

This "Ferrari will be quicker next race" will go on like usually till Abu Dhabi FP3, right?

[DJ Downforce]

But you are only "enjoying" things because you feel your driver has found a resurgence. If he and his team were nowhere I suspect you would have a different opinion on these regs.

Here we go again with people telling me and others why we're enjoying things

The racing up and down the field has been great, it's nothing to do with my "driver" you claim I support...

It's that great most of the drivers are moaning about it. My favourite driver has aired his displeasure at a regs that is holding him back. They basically reward you for driving like gran to the shops, amazing.

So naturally you will have a bias against these regs, it works both ways.

Drivers complain when things don't go their way, I found Verstappen listing the criteria of being a "real fan" to be crass and obnoxious too.

I agree the qualifying is a problem, they should be driving faster than someone on twitter blocking a person who keeps owning them. But this will be solved in time - either with changes during the Easter break we've got, or teams developing their way out of it.

But as per my original post, this discussion should happen in a thread purposely made for it.
I've made one here: viewtopic.php?t=32564

[LeQuick]

Here we go again with people telling me and others why we're enjoying things

The racing up and down the field has been great, it's nothing to do with my "driver" you claim I support...

It's that great most of the drivers are moaning about it. My favourite driver has aired his displeasure at a regs that is holding him back. They basically reward you for driving like gran to the shops, amazing.

So naturally you will have a bias against these regs, it works both ways.

Drivers complain when things don't go their way, I found Verstappen listing the criteria of being a "real fan" to be crass and obnoxious too.

I agree the qualifying is a problem, they should be driving faster than someone on twitter blocking a person who keeps owning them. But this will be solved in time - either with changes during the Easter break we've got, or teams developing their way out of it.

But as per my original post, this discussion should happen in a thread purposely made for it.
I've made one here: viewtopic.php?t=32564

It's nothing to do with a single driver, but all the top quality drivers who are held back by their limited machinery. When they can't even attack a hot lap and go balls out then that's clearly a big problem and goes completely against the spirit of F1.

[hollus]

Gentlemen, stop moving the goalposts, making it personal, telling people what to do or think, and stop derailing.
Back on topic, please.

[DJ Downforce]

It's that great most of the drivers are moaning about it. My favourite driver has aired his displeasure at a regs that is holding him back. They basically reward you for driving like gran to the shops, amazing.

So naturally you will have a bias against these regs, it works both ways.

Drivers complain when things don't go their way, I found Verstappen listing the criteria of being a "real fan" to be crass and obnoxious too.

I agree the qualifying is a problem, they should be driving faster than someone on twitter blocking a person who keeps owning them. But this will be solved in time - either with changes during the Easter break we've got, or teams developing their way out of it.

But as per my original post, this discussion should happen in a thread purposely made for it.
I've made one here: viewtopic.php?t=32564

It's nothing to do with a single driver, but all the top quality drivers who are held back by their limited machinery. When they can't even attack a hot lap and go balls out then that's clearly a big problem and goes completely against the spirit of F1.

We can discuss further on the thread I made or on Twitter...

Gentlemen, stop moving the goalposts, making it personal, telling people what to do or think, and stop derailing.
Back on topic, please.

[DJ Downforce]

Ok back on topic... how are McLaren going to fare this weekend if they can get the cars working reliably? I have a feeling Red bull will be faster than them for sure this weekend.

[MB_Racer]

Can we please not have a thread full of complaints again. Perhaps a separate thread can be made for that? Or these people who hate this formula so much could stop watching for a while?

F1technical is site for purists

you should visit some sites recommended by your influencers who start every sentence with 'o my god'

If you feel a F1 car with 600hp for 80 sec of a 88 sec lap exciting, pls enjoy

Even a F2 car has more hp

Do the "purists" prefer to watch GE boats which stay in the same position they qualified all race? Drs was just as artificial as the battery management.

I fully agree that these regs aren't perfect especially qualifying but it seems some people are just complaining for the sake of it.

And my point is that the purists could discuss this in a separate thread...?

Amen

[MB_Racer]

lol, F1 must be the only fanbase where you are told by "purists" what and what not to enjoy.

I'm sure a lot of us were bored by the 2023 dominance or the lack of on track action during the last 2 years but we sucked it up and tried to enjoy it. Now it's time for others to do the same in my opinion....

But you are only "enjoying" things because you feel your driver has found a resurgence. If he and his team were nowhere I suspect you would have a different opinion on these regs.

Here we go again with people telling me and others why we're enjoying things

The racing up and down the field has been great, it's nothing to do with my "driver" you claim I support...

Thanks for stating the facts Sir !

Back to your question it will be really interesting to see if McLaren can get their act/stuff back together and to see if they can beat RB.

It will be another fascinating fight for this Japanese weekend.

[Badger]

In Suzuka drivers will have to be careful with their throttle in the esses and on the exit of turn 2, 7, 9, 11, 14, and 18 to avoid any small throttle modulations that will reset their energy deployment and ruin the lap. A cautious approach in the high speed corners will ensure consistent deployment on the straights which should result in a better lap time.

That is at least my takeaway from the telemetry analysis we saw from China (from this video).

[LeQuick]

In Suzuka drivers will have to be careful with their throttle in the esses and on the exit of turn 2, 7, 9, 11, 14, and 18 to avoid any small throttle modulations that will reset their energy deployment and ruin the lap. A cautious approach in the high speed corners will ensure consistent deployment on the straights which should result in a better lap time.

That is at least my takeaway from the telemetry analysis we saw from China (from this video).

Amazing isn't it.

[DDopey]

Who cares about going awesome through the esses when you got yoyo racing

[FrukostScones]

Who cares about going awesome through the esses when you got yoyo racing

yawn.

[AR3-GP]

The track has been resurfaced between T7 and T17 (exit of the esses to the final chicane)