2026 Japanese Grand Prix - Suzuka, March 27 - 29

[AR3-GP]

yeah, well, I saw the race. Gasly and Bearman on the same strategy were faster when Verstappen retired, both McLaren DNS'ed, and everyone starting on hards was screwed by the SC.

Verstappen started with "grid drop" and pitted before the SC. Yet he still found himself in front of the faster cars on the same strategy. To catch and to pass are different things, anyway, considering the energy limit issue.

"Points not a given" was maybe a bit exaggerated, but I would say it's a realistic assumption to expect both McLaren to be faster currently, which would leave Verstappen 9th best in China. And it's not like the Audi starting ahead looks much slower either.

Ultimately nobody cares if Red Bull finish 8th, 9th, 10th or 11th, but it's a race and Verstappen and Red Bull have a long history of making things difficult for slightly faster cars in races. In any case, Red Bull still have an advantage which is their PU. The recovery limit is higher in the race.

[Gothrek]

Unfortunately the only way to protest this ruleset is to not engage with it.

Liberty are only interested in engagement and profit.

Watching the outboard shots there is no way you can tell what is happening in the PU deployments. The cars look fast, nimble and twitch a lot more than the ground effect barges -certainly more entertaining to watch! I think certain fanbases are just bitter because their teams are under-performing.

Please tell me where the cars look fast? Cause I am not seeing it. As a mercedes fan, I can understand you are happy. But the cars really don't look fast...

[AR3-GP]

Watching the outboard shots there is no way you can tell what is happening in the PU deployments.

You can hear the power units "dying" after the 130R in the offboard shots and at the track.

[venkyhere]

did you guys watch/hear the onboards at T5-T6 ? That's the holy grail corner in this entire track, before carrying speed into T7 and then the two degners.
This is the worst Suzuka quali I have ever seen. Nothing to do with the drivers, all to do with the decision to make the F1 car a toyota prius, so that it 'appeals' to pseudo-environmentalism.

[fourmula1]

Quali definitely kind of sucks.

Lando, Lewis, Charles are all close in lap time. Will they be fighting in the race?

Gabrial, Arvid, Max, Ocon, Nico are all close in lap time. What will they do to beat each other?

No doubt the engines are a problem right now early in the 1st year....but if you tell me they aren't racing each other....

[vorticism]

You will purchase the subscription. You will enjoy the battery meter. You will applaud the overtakes.

[gandharva]

embarrassing

[PlatinumZealot]

Watching the outboard shots there is no way you can tell what is happening in the PU deployments.

You can hear the power units "dying" after the 130R in the offboard shots and at the track.

No biggie. Power units are already dead to me since the swtich from V10.

[RonMexico]

Unfortunately the only way to protest this ruleset is to not engage with it.

Liberty are only interested in engagement and profit.

Watching the outboard shots there is no way you can tell what is happening in the PU deployments. The cars look fast, nimble and twitch a lot more than the ground effect barges -certainly more entertaining to watch! I think certain fanbases are just bitter because their teams are under-performing.

I'm a lifelong Ferrari fan.

FOM are avoiding showing certiain parts of Q laps to avoid super clipping and downshifts on straights.

Commentators sound like they are calling the results of a North Korean presidential election.

[101FlyingDutchman]

did you guys watch/hear the onboards at T5-T6 ? That's the holy grail corner in this entire track, before carrying speed into T7 and then the two degners.
This is the worst Suzuka quali I have ever seen. Nothing to do with the drivers, all to do with the decision to make the F1 car a toyota prius, so that it 'appeals' to pseudo-environmentalism.

Couldn’t agree more. The actual aero of the cars looks okay as they seem a bit twitchier to drive but the power unit. Oh my god. It’s taken the essence of driving a car on the limit completely away from the Formula. This is not what formula 1 needs

[Rikhart]

embarrassing
https://www.directupload.eu

Wow, just wow. And to think there are people who actually defend the state of F1.

[matt_b]

I just hope the Mercs get away clean and we can see them at least fighting each other, any car that gets in between will be dispatched eventually and just allow the other to build a big gap and manage until the end, basically a repeat of China.

Outside of that we have the battle for P3 and the battle for P7.

Then its the battle to stay out long enough to pit under a SC or VSC when someone inevetably konks out, slap on a set of Hard tyres which will go twice around the globe before the they hit a cliff and thats the whole strategy taken care of.

[AR3-GP]

I just hope the Mercs get away clean and we can see them at least fighting each other, any car that gets in between will be dispatched eventually and just allow the other to build a big gap and manage until the end, basically a repeat of China.

It's a race! Why do you want a scripted start? Mercedes is going to lead plenty of laps tomorrow, don't worry about that.

[search]

embarrassing
https://www.directupload.eu

Wow, just wow. And to think there are people who actually defend the state of F1.

well, I don't think anyone is really defending them trying to hide it for better publicity. But even if the cars aren't great, there still are interesting aspects about it, things to discuss, understand etc. Unfortunately the constant whining in the threads, on reddit etc, basically kills all of it.

[zibby43]

Can we have a dedicated thread going forward for all the complaining about the current regs?

I miss these threads actually being more about the event. I get the fact that some other folks miss Verstappen winning 19 out of 22 races in 2023 - a banner year for excitement and close racing in F1.