2026 Japanese Grand Prix - Suzuka, March 27 - 29

[AR3-GP]

What I don't follow in these discussions is that 2021 was one of the best seasons of all time, yet it is said that overtaking was impossible with those cars. How can this be? What it shows is that the core element of what makes F1 interesting is not the number of overtakes. It's something deeper, the tension and the competitors. Tripling the number of overtakes doesn't automatically make things better.


but that's the problem with the crowd that F1 wants to sell to now. They are not interested in following longer plots. They want to be able to come and go without context, without knowledge of the rivalries, the teams, the history. That is who the current concept of 500 overtakes favors.

[avantman]

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.

Any motorsport racing has never being about overtaking, let alone back and forth type of racing, which is utter nonsense itself. The whole point of qualifying is and has always been to put fastest cars/drivers ahead of the slower ones so they wouldn't be interfering with them, allowing fastest cars to get another advantage and finish the race the quickest which is the point of racing. Not finish the race by overtaking the most ammount of cars. Overtaking can occur only when a faster car-driver finds himself behind the slower combo, which in itself is
an exception. Ease of overtaking is not a great thing its complete opposite because the best races often come as a result of inability of faster car/driver overtake the slower one, especially for the win, or podium places. This creates uncertainty and unpredictability until the last moments of a race. This is what ultimately creates great races, great product.
The whole idea it should be constant overtaking is complete distortion of what motorsport racing is, this is where all these bs ideas of reverse grid do originate from. Fake show for weaker minds, rather than motorracing.

[FittingMechanics]

What I don't follow in these discussions is that 2021 was one of the best seasons of all time, yet it is said that overtaking was impossible with those cars. How can this be? What is showing is that the core element of what makes F1 interesting is not the number of overtakes. It's something else. Chasing overtaking specifically is a band-aid imo.

But any of those seasons would be better with easier overtakes. Easier overtakes are a plus.

[Emag]

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.

I am sorry, but what buildup to an overtake did you witness in Suzuka last year?

You need to strike a balance. Ultimately, races where you can't overtake because the car fundamentally makes it near impossible for the driver following are not as exciting to watch. Last year, even if you saw them gain 2-3 tenths per lap on the car ahead, you knew they were likely not going to make it through, so what's the point in being faster? It turned into a track position formula where lap 1 was super important and it dictated race results.

If you like that sort of thing, then be my guest, but it's not something I enjoy personally. Best racing I have witnessed was 2012, but as years went by I know now that 2012 was an outlier. You don't typically get that in F1.

[Vettel165]

Amazing kimi, hope he takes the title. I dont want a princess George taking it, keep up the good work. A fantastic new Italian talent. Good

[Emag]

What I don't follow in these discussions is that 2021 was one of the best seasons of all time, yet it is said that overtaking was impossible with those cars. How can this be? What it shows is that the core element of what makes F1 interesting is not the number of overtakes. It's something deeper, the tension and the competitors. Tripling the number of overtakes doesn't automatically make things better.


but that's the problem with the crowd that F1 wants to sell to now. They are not interested in following longer plots. They want to be able to come and go without context, without knowledge of the rivalries, the teams, the history. That is who the current concept of 500 overtakes favors.

Depends on what you judge it on. If you judge it purely from an on-track battle perspective, 2021 was a very bad season. From other perspectives it's one of the best because you had two amazing drivers who pushed their respective machinery to the limit and the title battle went down to the wire because of it. There was something awesome in watching Lewis and Max pull 30-40 seconds on their teammates like it was nothing.

But don't you think the season would have been better if the cars were easier to follow closely like they were in 2022?

[avantman]

What I don't follow in these discussions is that 2021 was one of the best seasons of all time, yet it is said that overtaking was impossible with those cars. How can this be? What is showing is that the core element of what makes F1 interesting is not the number of overtakes. It's something else. Chasing overtaking specifically is a band-aid imo.

But any of those seasons would be better with easier overtakes. Easier overtakes are a plus.

No, it would be worse. Easier overtakes is a negative. Not saying that complete improbability of overtaking is good either. But Alonso keeping Hamilton behind for multiple laps in a car 1,5s slower was a great thing, a great show and one of the highlights of the year (won the FIA award by the way as far as I recall). Lewis did finally got through but it was anything but easy.
The easier overtaking is, the less meaningful and valuable each of those becomes.

[FittingMechanics]

What I don't follow in these discussions is that 2021 was one of the best seasons of all time, yet it is said that overtaking was impossible with those cars. How can this be? What is showing is that the core element of what makes F1 interesting is not the number of overtakes. It's something else. Chasing overtaking specifically is a band-aid imo.

But any of those seasons would be better with easier overtakes. Easier overtakes are a plus.

No, it would be worse. Easier overtakes is a negative. Not saying that complete improbability of overtaking is good either. But Alonso keeping Hamilton behind for multiple laps in a car 1,5s slower was a great thing, a great show and one of the highlights of the year (won the FIA award by the way as far as I recall). Lewis did finally got through but it was anything but easy.
The easier overtaking is, the less meaningful and valuable each of those becomes.

Maybe to you, a very dedicated fan that watches all the races, engages in forum discussion and knows the intricacies. To the average fan/watcher it is not.

Would the same fight for most of the race be notable or even noticed if it happened further down the grid? We had Verstallen stuck behind Gasly for most of the race today, there was no yoyoing at all.

What was interesting in McLaren following Verstappen in Japan 2025? In 2026 rules they would have many attempts and action, much more wheel to wheel action and excitement.

[CHT]

The ringing sound of Italian national anthem really give me goose bumps. I think the Tifosi must be delighted even this is not a Ferrari victory

[gandharva]

Another thrilling day in Formula Big-Mac. Race 3 took me all of ~15 minutes to skip through while eating breakfast. I'd cancel this garbage right now, but thanks to Sky hoarding the exclusive rights in Germany, canceling my F1TV sub means I lose it for good. Trapped by a terrible product.

[Aesop]

What a shitshow, and I cant stand the commentators who keep telling me how exciting it is. And every overtake is lauded and they keep acting surprised when the reovertake has taken place.

[avantman]

But any of those seasons would be better with easier overtakes. Easier overtakes are a plus.

No, it would be worse. Easier overtakes is a negative. Not saying that complete improbability of overtaking is good either. But Alonso keeping Hamilton behind for multiple laps in a car 1,5s slower was a great thing, a great show and one of the highlights of the year (won the FIA award by the way as far as I recall). Lewis did finally got through but it was anything but easy.
The easier overtaking is, the less meaningful and valuable each of those becomes.

Maybe to you, a very dedicated fan that watches all the races, engages in forum discussion and knows the intricacies. To the average fan/watcher it is not.

Would the same fight for most of the race be notable or even noticed if it happened further down the grid? We had Verstallen stuck behind Gasly for most of the race today, there was no yoyoing at all.

What was interesting in McLaren following Verstappen in Japan 2025? In 2026 rules they would have many attempts and action, much more wheel to wheel action and excitement.

Not many probably know or remember but Suzuka ‘25 was one of those rare races of modern Pirelli era where drivers could actually push as hard as they can for the whole race, especially on the 2nd stint on hard, there was almost no (or very little) tire management involved. Which makes mistakes probable. One tiny mistake from the leader and McLaren would’ve gotten him.
Under these regs having same race pace advantage McLaren had over Max last year, they both would simply overtook him and it would be very predictable. I know the magic of hindsight, it’s easy for anyone to say it was obvious after the pit stop already that Max would win and there was never a way for McLaren to overtake him. I know it’s easy to say this. For me it was never obvious until the last or two, just like at COTA in ‘21 where we saw zero overtakes for podium positions and I could not remember one behind the top three. But I remember everyone, commentators , fans, casual fans being super excited and emotional after that race. One of the best of the best F1 season ever. Nobody remembered record braking Chinese 2016 Grand Prix, no one could name one single meaningful overtake from that race. There nothing even to talk about. Yet we are still trying to force the idea that overtaking, the amount of overtakes is be-all end-all.

[avantman]

What a shitshow, and I cant stand the commentators who keep telling me how exciting it is. And every overtake is lauded and they keep acting surprised when the reovertake has taken place.

Yes, being a huge JB fan in the past, both as a driver and particularly commentator, I am especially disappointed with him.. sold his soul completely. Never expected anything better from talking heads like Chandhok, Crofty, Brundle or Davidson, who are just fulfilling their contracts….but not Jenson.

[Bence]

I can't help thinking that the races are just played with pullback cars. Pull back, slow down as the spring gets tense, then release. Shoot for a straight. Get mechanically tired before the next series of corners. Pull back, release. And again, and again. And watch helplessly when your spring is loose and doesn't store some residual energy, so your rivals can rocketing by...

I think Ollie wouldn't call the clipping/boosting speed difference as "excitement". With a semi-crushed knee, I wouldn't... This racing is neither pure formula racing, nor endurance where the closing speeds can be similarly different between the classes. So do we have fractions of F1, with shards of endurance racing? Meat or fish? Almost nice or half$hit? Overtaking or evasion?

[mzso]

It may be that this is the last race where Mercedes was dominant. McLaren was fairly close as it is. I sure Ferrari is bringing upgrades by may. Plus another team or two might pull themselves together. It might be that red bull can shave off its weight deficit in this downtime for one.