2026 Australian Grand Prix - Melbourne, March 06 - 08

[Trocola]

Seems we are on the road to the worst F1 season ever

There is no chance to brake later to attempt a pass (as cars are braking 300 before the turn), the energy game is totally artificial, drivers are watching some energy bars on their wheel during 90% of the lap and trying to pass a driver will be energy penalised

I rather prefer watching Formula E or Indy

[AR3-GP]

These regs are not going anywhere. This is what it's all about:



Was there any truly memorable overtakes?

[bluechris]

There is no point to discuss what Ferrari did. MB was joking with everyone, its so big the engine difference that when they needed they lapped 1 sec easily faster than Leclerc. When they passed they simply drove a delta same as Leclerc.
I don't remember even in 2014 so much difference from engine side but maybe i am wrong here.
The joke is that if they reduce the electric power, the difference will be bigger since the ice has so much difference.

We only hope for RB to loose weight, Ferrari to optimize the trick in the small wing in the exhaust and the upside top wing and McLaren to finally understand what they have in their back lol...also they need to loose weight.
All this will make them to catch MB? I don't know and i am a bit pessimistic .

[FrukostScones]

Seems we are on the road to the worst F1 season ever

There is no chance to brake later to attempt a pass (as cars are braking 300 before the turn), the energy game is totally artificial, drivers are watching some energy bars on their wheel during 90% of the lap and trying to pass a driver will be energy penalised

I rather prefer watching Formula E or Indy

go and watch 2002 again.

[Mogster]

Yeah, first half was good, but the second half of the race was a disaster. It’s a bit gimmicky with these power struggle antics of overtaking & defending, but at least there was some action & no drs trains. Graphics on deployment and battery life need improving.

Shame about the Merc advantage, but there are positives to take. It’s certainly not the write off people were painting after Q.

Agree 100%.

The first half was good, the second half was quite normal. I’m interested to see how the season develops and how the tech matures. As you say I’d rather see assisted overtakes than 58 mind numbing laps of cars in a DRS/aero train. It is a bit FE but this is 2026 and if you want OEM participation then this is going to be the way it is.

[ali623]

Yeah, first half was good, but the second half of the race was a disaster. It’s a bit gimmicky with these power struggle antics of overtaking & defending, but at least there was some action & no drs trains. Graphics on deployment and battery life need improving.

Shame about the Merc advantage, but there are positives to take. It’s certainly not the write off people were painting after Q.

I wouldn't say the second half was a disaster, it was basically just a normal Australian GP at that point with not much happening.

[FrukostScones]

And we always have to remember that Melbourne is an a.typical racetrack.

[avantman]

These regs are not going anywhere. This is what it's all about:

https://i.postimg.cc/RCLDJVkr/image.png

Was there any truly memorable overtakes?

Yeah, Max on Alex. With the caveat it was on the car 2s or more slower, which makes it meaningless and not worth mentioning.
Although it was that classic brilliant opportunistic overtake, I assume most of us would want to see, rather than hollow pass at the end of the straight achieved with artificial enormous top speed advantage.

Top 2 races with most overtakes are. Zandvoort 2023 and China 2016. Does anyone find them memorable let alone exciting?
I would choose to watch COTA 2021 over that, where there’s barely any overtaking but you hold your breath untill the Chequered flag not knowing the outcome and the winner until the final moment.

[AR3-GP]

These regs are not going anywhere. This is what it's all about:

https://i.postimg.cc/RCLDJVkr/image.png

Was there any truly memorable overtakes?

Yeah, Max on Alex. With the caveat it was on the car 2s or more a car slower, which makes it meaningless and not worth mentioning.
Although it was that classic brilliant opportunistic overtake, I assume most of us would want to see, rather than hollow pass at the end of the straight achieved with artificial enormous top speed advantage.

I agree, I liked that one but Max is Max. My general feeling is that despite there being 100 more overtakes than the 2025 AUS GP, it hasn't made the race feel any better or any more exciting to me.

You would think if a race had 145 overtakes, there should be a crazy story to tell.

[ChrisM40]

People talking about how this is a terrible rule set, but when was the last time we had cars with no artificial thing to manage or generate interest? DRS was fake, refuelling was fake, KERS was fake, crappy low life tyres were fake, forced pit shops were and still are fake..

Its been a LONG time since we had cars with nothing fake generating interest, if ever if were totally honest, and did that generate good races? lol no.

We got 120 overtakes. Yes they were mostly fake caused by management and deployment, but that beats having 3 because no one can pass and they line up 2 by 2 from start to finish

[venkyhere]

These regs are not going anywhere. This is what it's all about:

https://i.postimg.cc/RCLDJVkr/image.png

Was there any truly memorable overtakes?

The "engineering/racing nerd" type fanbase is slowly dwindling, while the "big-mac-with-large-coke" type fanbase is growing massively, helped by DTS. They want to dumb it down as a 'showman sport' rather than a sport of tech/skill, since that's the way to increase the subscription base, ticket sales and general public popularity.
Remember the owner's manual that came with old cars ? They had instructions on how to adjust the carburettor jets, while a modern car's owner's manual comes with instructions not to drink the engine oil / coolant.
Same trend. We shouldn't be surprised.

[basti313]

Was there any truly memorable overtakes?

The question is if we call this "overtake". Most things that happend in the midfield were just driving past someone with an empty battery. I mean...look at most Verstappen "overtakes"...he came from way back, not even in a fighting position, and just drove by before T9 on the outside. Similar to most "remarkable" stuff between Lec and Rus, this was a bit like Mario Kart....whoever had the mushrom.

[avantman]

These regs are not going anywhere. This is what it's all about:

https://i.postimg.cc/RCLDJVkr/image.png

Was there any truly memorable overtakes?

Yeah, Max on Alex. With the caveat it was on the car 2s or more a car slower, which makes it meaningless and not worth mentioning.
Although it was that classic brilliant opportunistic overtake, I assume most of us would want to see, rather than hollow pass at the end of the straight achieved with artificial enormous top speed advantage.

I agree, I liked that one but Max is Max. My general feeling is that despite there being 100 more overtakes than the 2025 AUS GP, it hasn't made the race feel any better or any more exciting to me.

You would think if a race had 145 overtakes, there should be a crazy story to tell.

Yeah, sounds incredible but they do not understand that it’s not the quantity of overtakes that makes any race or a championship exciting. What a silly metric of success.

[FittingMechanics]

Awesome!

I want to lay alternative markers for immature cars at the beginning of the last regulation cycle. In 2022 Malbourne was the 3rd race, so the cars were a bit less green, but 1st race, 3rd race... same same enough.

Pole lap in 2022: 1:17:868 by Leclerc.
Fastest lap in the race: 1:20:268 by Leclerc.

In my opinion, Melbourne 2025 should be compared to Melbourne 2029 or at least 2028, after everyone has had 2 cycles of re-designing their cars including the successful tricks from the other teams.

And now complete:

Pole lap in 2022: 1:17:868 by Leclerc. ---> Pole lap in 2026: 1:18:518 by Russell.
Fastest lap in the race: 1:20:268 by Leclerc. --> Fastest lap in 2026: 1:22:091 by Verstappen.

As expected, more different in the race where they are unlikely to deploy 8 MJ in free air.

So 0.7 thenth in Q, 15 tenths slower inthe race.
But yes, together with the treade off of corner speed for straight line acceleration, they feel a tad slower to the (my) eye.

In qualifying they deploy 11 or 12 MJ. They start the lap topped up.

[f1isgood]

I also think the fact that every straight is a DRS zone makes a big difference.