2026 Japanese Grand Prix - Suzuka, March 27 - 29

[F1NAC]

Interesting race. Just frustrating that Merc lost on start and then they easy claw their mistake back. And then even SC lucks in..

Great drives from top 3

[Emag]

In a way this race was better than the snooze fest we had last year, but I am conflicted because the action is almost entirely artificial. I don't know what they can do about it short term, but they seriously need to consider hardware changes on the PU side for next year. Cars are on a better place with their ability to follow and I think they're not far off in ultimate pace to the point where you're blurring the line between "pinnacle of motorsport" and the next best thing. However, the PU formula is absolutely cooked. It's horrible in quali and it's an inconsistent mess in the races. They need to do something about it.

[venkyhere]

In a way this race was better than the snooze fest we had last year, but I am conflicted because the action is almost entirely artificial. I don't know what they can do about it short term, but they seriously need to consider hardware changes on the PU side for next year. Cars are on a better place with their ability to follow and I think they're not far off in ultimate pace to the point where you're blurring the line between "pinnacle of motorsport" and the next best thing. However, the PU formula is absolutely cooked. It's horrible in quali and it's an inconsistent mess in the races. They need to do something about it.

I have an easy solution - allow deployment/recharge manually (two buttons), by the driver, no AI stuff. Throttle/brake pedal position can be used to determine rate of deployment/recharge that each button press commands. Driver has to use his brain and driving skill, simultaneously. Right now, driver is just a pedal press timer.

[CHT]

Kimi said too early to talk about championship.....oh George..

[avantman]

In a way this race was better than the snooze fest we had last year, but I am conflicted because the action is almost entirely artificial. I don't know what they can do about it short term, but they seriously need to consider hardware changes on the PU side for next year. Cars are on a better place with their ability to follow and I think they're not far off in ultimate pace to the point where you're blurring the line between "pinnacle of motorsport" and the next best thing. However, the PU formula is absolutely cooked. It's horrible in quali and it's an inconsistent mess in the races. They need to do something about it.

A snoozefest last year when nobody could know a winner until the end? That was one of the best races of the season.

[AR3-GP]

In a way this race was better than the snooze fest we had last year,

but we can't compare 1st year regs with low downforce (2026) to end of regs cars with max downforce (2025). What we have to compare it to is 2022 when the regs were new and the cars lacked downforce because they were not developed. There were many good races in 2022.

The following is decent now because the cars lack 3 years of aero development, just like we saw in 2022. We are going to see the same problems. Leclerc alluded to the homogenization of deployment, and we here know that in 1-2 years the dirty air will explode.

[AR3-GP]

The race was a little bit weird for me. It was interesting seeing how some cars accelerated like a cartoon with overtake mode in the 2nd and 3rd lap when the batteries were all full. Then overtake mode seemed to lose it's strength. It also became more frustrating than anything when I would see certain car make progress, and then just flip back the order because the battery was empty. I was watching Lando make progress and first he passed Hamilton, but then he had no battery and got passed back. The overtakes didn't feel like they had a meaning because I knew it was only temporary and he would get repassed most of the time. So it was more annoying than enjoyable by the end.

[AR3-GP]

Carlos Sainz: "This five-week break is really good for F1"

"The accident that happened today with Bearman—we've been warning the FIA and FOM as drivers that it was only a matter of time"

"I hope F1 comes to its senses and the teams don't get too aggressive, because it's clear that this regulations have gaps and problems that need to be fixed before heading to Miami and other types of circuits"

[Emag]

In a way this race was better than the snooze fest we had last year, but I am conflicted because the action is almost entirely artificial. I don't know what they can do about it short term, but they seriously need to consider hardware changes on the PU side for next year. Cars are on a better place with their ability to follow and I think they're not far off in ultimate pace to the point where you're blurring the line between "pinnacle of motorsport" and the next best thing. However, the PU formula is absolutely cooked. It's horrible in quali and it's an inconsistent mess in the races. They need to do something about it.

A snoozefest last year when nobody could know a winner until the end? That was one of the best races of the season.

You need to pull some crazy mental gymnastics to call Suzuka one of the best races of 2025. It was literally more boring than Monaco to watch. There was nothing happening in it 90% of the time.

And I don't know for you, but I personally definitely knew who the winner would be. It should have been one of the McLaren drivers if McLaren actually split strategies and tried to win the race like a normal team. Since McLaren did not do that, Max had it in the bag as you couldn't overtake for sh*t at Suzuka with the cars last year. It was something like 15 overtakes the whole race after lap 1. Horrible.

[Emag]

In a way this race was better than the snooze fest we had last year,

but we can't compare 1st year regs with low downforce (2026) to end of regs cars with max downforce (2025). What we have to compare it to is 2022 when the regs were new and the cars lacked downforce because they were not developed. There were many good races in 2022.

The following is decent now because the cars lack 3 years of aero development, just like we saw in 2022. We are going to see the same problems. Leclerc alluded to the homogenization of deployment, and we here know that in 1-2 years the dirty air will explode.

But did 2022 really have good races though? Like sure, it was better racing than 2025, but how much better really? I feel like we are biased by Bahrain and Saudi. How much action did we really get beyond that?

[avantman]

In a way this race was better than the snooze fest we had last year, but I am conflicted because the action is almost entirely artificial. I don't know what they can do about it short term, but they seriously need to consider hardware changes on the PU side for next year. Cars are on a better place with their ability to follow and I think they're not far off in ultimate pace to the point where you're blurring the line between "pinnacle of motorsport" and the next best thing. However, the PU formula is absolutely cooked. It's horrible in quali and it's an inconsistent mess in the races. They need to do something about it.

A snoozefest last year when nobody could know a winner until the end? That was one of the best races of the season.

You need to pull some crazy mental gymnastics to call Suzuka one of the best races of 2025. It was literally more boring than Monaco to watch. There was nothing happening in it 90% of the time.

And I don't know for you, but I personally definitely knew who the winner would be. It should have been one of the McLaren drivers if McLaren actually split strategies and tried to win the race like a normal team. Since McLaren did not do that, Max had it in the bag as you couldn't overtake for sh*t at Suzuka with the cars last year. It was something like 15 overtakes the whole race after lap 1. Horrible.

Yeah, i also call COTA 2021 one of the best if not THE best race of 2021, despite nothing happened there (nothing by yours standards of course). And I am sure you also knew Max had that in the bag, also driving a much faster csr than Lewis that day. No doubts.
Jedes dem seine. I understand modern fan enjoy races in Vegas, rate races based on the number of overtakes and stuff. Nothing against it.

[AR3-GP]

But did 2022 really have good races though? Like sure, it was better racing than 2025, but how much better really? I feel like we are biased by Bahrain and Saudi. How much action did we really get beyond that?

Silverstone, Hungary, France, Austria off the top of my head. The cars could fundamentally follow. You will have to go checkout the highlights. I promise there's a lot of recency bias going on now.

[avantman]

But did 2022 really have good races though? Like sure, it was better racing than 2025, but how much better really? I feel like we are biased by Bahrain and Saudi. How much action did we really get beyond that?

Silverstone, Hungary, France, Austria off the top of my head. The cars could fundamentally follow. You will have to go checkout the highlights. I promise there's a lot of recency bias going on now.

Wasn't Canada great as well? By my standards any race that has an element of uncertainty when it comes to a winner until the last moments is great. I am personally not one of those who count number of meaningless straight line passes and use that as a metric to judge on the quality of the show. Monaco was truly mesmerizing that year although for a different reasons.

[FittingMechanics]

In a way this race was better than the snooze fest we had last year, but I am conflicted because the action is almost entirely artificial. I don't know what they can do about it short term, but they seriously need to consider hardware changes on the PU side for next year. Cars are on a better place with their ability to follow and I think they're not far off in ultimate pace to the point where you're blurring the line between "pinnacle of motorsport" and the next best thing. However, the PU formula is absolutely cooked. It's horrible in quali and it's an inconsistent mess in the races. They need to do something about it.

Drivers are still not using these cars in the best way. All of the overtakes where they had massive overlap before the chicane were mistakes, they didn't charge so they overtook the car ahead. They will learn to time this better, so instead of no charge and big overtake they need to pull alongside, lift to harvest and then overtake in the chicane. I think Norris figured it out at the end but maybe that was just Hamilton dropping off.

To me it is not artificial at all. These cars have engine power variability which allows them to use it in different spots so you get these action moment. This is not a downside. I wish we had ICE POWER 200KW+ mode in the past but with limited use per lap.

[DDopey]

You need to pull some crazy mental gymnastics to call Suzuka one of the best races of 2025. It was literally more boring than Monaco to watch. There was nothing happening in it 90% of the time.

And I don't know for you, but I personally definitely knew who the winner would be. It should have been one of the McLaren drivers if McLaren actually split strategies and tried to win the race like a normal team. Since McLaren did not do that, Max had it in the bag as you couldn't overtake for sh*t at Suzuka with the cars last year. It was something like 15 overtakes the whole race after lap 1. Horrible.

So this is what I do not understand. Most of the F1 races were not about overtakes. So what have you been watching all this time? Are you a new viewer or …. I dont get this. If you didn’t find the F1 interesting, why watch ? I enjoyed the F1 without yoyo racing, cars pushing and saving depending on the stage in race. Seeing if their faster rounds made sense, and so on. All the dynamic, the build up to an overtake etc.