He has been trouncing Hamilton for a year and some, but never mind that. I guess a couple of you have been salivating for a couple of poor results (a lot of which were brake related)...
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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.
He has been trouncing Hamilton for a year and some, but never mind that. I guess a couple of you have been salivating for a couple of poor results (a lot of which were brake related)...
Definitely. Hamilton was so poor that even after decades of racing with Mercedes engine powered cars switched team, with last year of regs which blunted his feelings, a new team to adapt and one hell of a race engineer got thrashed by the generational qualifier. This year poor Charles couldn't get hold of brake unfortunately which he mastered till last year but then he is the greatest qualifier of this generation so, how could he lack. It must the brakes.
no matter the result it always devolves into driver v driver
guess why?
What did he do? I only watched the last 25 laps.
Yea they overhauled the setup after fp2 cause both drivers werent happy with the car but i guess whatever they did affected their race pace more than they expected and nobody did long runs in fp3 iircJdn1327 wrote: ↑28 Jun 2026, 17:36Both drivers didn't do very well. Just heard Fred's interview. He said they have absolutely no idea why their deg was so bad. It was hotter in fp1 and 2 and they didn't have this bad deg. Was there a drastic setup change between fp3 and quali? Or have ferrari now gotten into the Toyota curse of setting up the car for quali and hoping for the best in the race?
It's clear that we've been suffering from a power deficit since the start of the season; we knew it, and we still do. Even with the ADUO, we can't hope for a magic wand to solve everything overnight. We'll improve, but it will take time—and even more so when it comes to the engine. When you're battling the others, that deficit becomes even more glaring because you get easily overtaken on the straights and lose positions on track. But that can't be an excuse. I don't think we had the pace to compete with the two Mercedes, and we probably overreacted. We pushed too hard at the start of the race to stay with them and destroyed our tires. We should have managed the race better by focusing a bit more on the McLarens.
I think at the start, Charles was more convinced about doing two stops, then we changed strategy, and it was the wrong call. In the end, he was able to benefit from the virtual safety car, but honestly, I think the result was influenced by the fact that we paid too much attention to Mercedes. If we had managed the race differently, we probably would have overtaken the McLarens. But there's no 'Leclerc alert.' I hope he can get competitive again quickly. Today, it was mostly a matter of overheating. We practically ruined our race from the first few laps by trying to stay in touch with Mercedes and Red Bull. It wasn't a pace issue. Compared to McLaren, we were in the mix. With Mercedes and Max, it was more complicated. We pushed too hard in the opening laps to stay with them, and that compromised our race.
It was a tough circuit for us, and we already knew that. At Barcelona, there are lots of fast corners in quick succession, where the car is pushed to its limits, and those characteristics suited our car better. We weren't champions at Barcelona, but that doesn't make us idiots. Every weekend is a different story. Conditions change, temperatures change, and car behaviour changes. Last week, Mercedes struggled; this weekend, they got back to winning ways. There are six or seven cars grouped within two tenths, and it's normal for each circuit to favour different characteristics. I don't think we had everything in place from Friday. It was a pretty tough Friday; we hadn't done the long runs in the same conditions as the race, and today, we paid the price. We need to keep working with the same approach, analyze what happened, and react from the next race onward.
It's a strange one. Hamilton said he expected high deg. during the cool down drive so it couldn't have been a complete surprise.Luscion wrote: ↑28 Jun 2026, 17:54Yea they overhauled the setup after fp2 cause both drivers werent happy with the car but i guess whatever they did affected their race pace more than they expected and nobody did long runs in fp3 iircJdn1327 wrote: ↑28 Jun 2026, 17:36Both drivers didn't do very well. Just heard Fred's interview. He said they have absolutely no idea why their deg was so bad. It was hotter in fp1 and 2 and they didn't have this bad deg. Was there a drastic setup change between fp3 and quali? Or have ferrari now gotten into the Toyota curse of setting up the car for quali and hoping for the best in the race?
I watched the entire race and I was a bit baffled. Hamilton looked really strong early on until... he didn't. Tires really fell of a cliff it seems. Bit of a hail mary to pit Hamilton during VSC for softs. Did not really work out (doh). Leclerc looked a bit slow from the start tbh. Power deficit was pretty clear imo (clearest it has been to me anyway). It was a weird race for Ferrari, a lot worse than I expected.Artur Craft wrote: ↑28 Jun 2026, 17:40guess why?What did he do? I only watched the last 25 laps.
Hard for me to say anything about the race but, going by the results, without proper context, it seems Ferrari is back at 4th car place. Red Bull took a big jump with their updated car and threatened Mercedes while doing the same strategy (2 stops) and no VSC fluke, unlike Ferrari.
Red Bull had a very poor car at the first few races (bar Melbourne) and was fighting Audi.Now they are fighting Mercedes while Ferrari is not improving enough.
Over the years, it has been shown that Red Bull and Mclaren are the teams that are most capable of in-season development while Ferrari tends to start well and then fails to update the cars in a satisfying pace. Silverstone will paint a clearer picture but the trend seems to be continuing...
I think for the first time ever I´ll agree with you. Leclerc seems in trouble with the car´s handling. I have no idea if it is related to the odd regulations that we have or if it´s just due to a way Ferrari developed their car.Hammerfist wrote: ↑28 Jun 2026, 16:37I’m afraid his problems are deeper than that. Ever since the crash at Miami he has not been good. There’s a fundamental issue with him and that car and the way it’s being developed.
Please, if you will, share the truth, were you among the ones dreaming with it after Barcelona ?PlatinumZealot wrote: ↑28 Jun 2026, 16:39I'm also humbled that we really have no chance to win any championships this year. The Mercedes engine is just too strong and our car seems to hurt the tyres on power tracks.
In my opinion, the setup of the car was fundamentally wrong. Lewis complained very early on that the car was oversteering everywhere.Gillian wrote: ↑28 Jun 2026, 17:59I watched the entire race and I was a bit baffled. Hamilton looked really strong early on until... he didn't. Tires really fell of a cliff it seems. Bit of a hail mary to pit Hamilton during VSC for softs. Did not really work out (doh). Leclerc looked a bit slow from the start tbh. Power deficit was pretty clear imo (clearest it has been to me anyway). It was a weird race for Ferrari, a lot worse than I expected.Artur Craft wrote: ↑28 Jun 2026, 17:40guess why?What did he do? I only watched the last 25 laps.
Hard for me to say anything about the race but, going by the results, without proper context, it seems Ferrari is back at 4th car place. Red Bull took a big jump with their updated car and threatened Mercedes while doing the same strategy (2 stops) and no VSC fluke, unlike Ferrari.
Red Bull had a very poor car at the first few races (bar Melbourne) and was fighting Audi.Now they are fighting Mercedes while Ferrari is not improving enough.
Over the years, it has been shown that Red Bull and Mclaren are the teams that are most capable of in-season development while Ferrari tends to start well and then fails to update the cars in a satisfying pace. Silverstone will paint a clearer picture but the trend seems to be continuing...