kyledr04 said:

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Merc still beating everyone but the McLaren and Ferrari are inching closer. RB is struggling. Can't see Max hanging around.

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Hamilton retires -> Verstappen to Ferrari -> Bearman to Red Bull

That's what I see happening

Actually I forgot about Verstappen's Mercedes tie in and Bearman's past with Ferrari

Makes more sense for Verstappen to Merc replacing George and Bearman to Ferrari

I think if they can figure out a way to get qualifying back to flat out speed and driving ability vs having some AI determine when to deploy the battery, then some of the complaining will subside.

Listening to podcast, a slight throttle lift from 98% to 97% triggers something in battery usage and can hose your qualifying lap.

Eventually they have to do something right?
They can't have their drivers just constantly ****ting on the cars.

Photo of Charles Leclerc's radio comments after qualifying.

It was always about the cars.

MAROON said:

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Just hate that they have made the cars slower. Kimi's pole position time today would have not gotten out of Q1 last year. F1 seems to be the only sport trying to go backwards.

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I'm a passive fan so take my opinion for what it's worth. To me this sport is a 90% for engineers and 10% for drivers to cross the finish line before your opponents within the rules. Faster, slower, battery, petrol, soft, hard, wet, dry, this is an engineering competition more than anything else.

Also my 9 yo daughter has a crush on Kimi bc he looks like he's 10.

Time to see if the racing is still close after the first round of pit stops. The pre-pit stop racing has been good again

Bearman with a gift wreck for Kimi and Lewis

Edit: And Bearman limping with an apparent injury to his right leg/ankle

Broken ankle???

Edit maybe not. Limping bad. X-ray indicates nothing broken.

Bearman seems to be injured

Wonder if some battery mode kicked in that either caused Bearman to overspeed or loss of power from Franco

Youngest ever points leader in F1, also good to see Oscar back on the podium

Max tells the BBC he's contemplating retiring at the end of the season. That can't be good for the sport.

FIA statement on the Bearman crash. A lot of words to basically say they know they've created a problem and don't know what to do about it.
FIA statement 2026 F1 rules: review meetings set after Oliver Bearman crash

ktownag08 said:

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Max tells the BBC he's contemplating retiring at the end of the season. That can't be good for the sport.

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It's got to be miserable to race a mule against thoroughbreds. Especially for someone as competitive as Max. Waste of time other than collecting a paycheck.

Great day for the Russell haters. Which is me.

Max can't retire soon enough. He's made a ton of money off this series yet 3 races in he can't stop whining, that whole crybaby incident with the journalist and wants to quit. That's not leadership at all. Be part of the solution.

I got into F1 around 2008. This is far and away the worst change to cars since I've been watching and that includes going to Silverstone for the first time in 2014. That was the first year of the hybrid V6. I went to Silverstone and got off the shuttle and heard this amazing sound coming from the track. Got up there and it was formula 2. Then the F1 cars got on the track and those fartboxes sounded worse than the ricers in my high school. But at least they drove those cars.

StateofTexas said:

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Max can't retire soon enough. He's made a ton of money off this series yet 3 races in he can't stop whining, that whole crybaby incident with the journalist and wants to quit. That's not leadership at all. Be part of the solution.

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Yeah, it's hard to feel bad for him. Dude spent like what 5 months at Toro Rosso a decade ago and then went straight to Red Bull? Welcome to what everyone outside the big 4 teams deal with every year. Sometimes you have a sh*tbox and not a rocket.

This is an unmitigated, shameful disaster. What a sham F1 has become.

These regulations are going to get someone seriously injured. Bearman is lucky it wasn't him today.

I was actually optimistic after seeing the start of the first race this season.

I just don't see the point now. The cars are all so much slower and I feel like it's only a matter of time before they can feed data into a computer to make the optimal boosts with almost no driver input


Seeing Bearman's crash was actually pretty scary. I think he's very lucky to not be more seriously hurt. It really put into perspective just how dangerous this can be now with the reliance on harvesting and boosts.

They will need to get it figured out before Eau Rouge (blind exit) and the high speed turn (Blanchimont) at Spa, plus the tunnel at Monaco

I hate the new regs, but trying to be completely objective, the unpredictability of the races for 3rd - 8th and the fighting and passing / re-passing we have seen in 3 races has been better than the start of the last regs where Red Bull walked away on everyone. And the mid-field is now everyone but the top 3 teams. Alpine, HAAS, Audi, Racing Bulls, and Red Bull all fighting for position a lot closer than in many years.

The difference is the unpredictability and passing / re-passing this year is all battery related. Some of it is driver and engineers gaming the system and figuring out where to harvest and where to deploy. But some of it seems like equipment glitches and more likely the systems not reacting exactly like the drivers and engineers expect, and / or them making the wrong call on how to balance them.

The passing / re-passing phenomenon is pretty similar to the DRS gaming from the last spec when timing your pass so that you retained the DRS advantage into the next straight was critical. The harvest / deploy / overtake makes passing and battling drag out for more laps, which technically feels like better racing.

What sucks is all the passing / re-passing is so artificial feeling now because of the Mario Kart nature of the hybrid systems.

This isn't real F1, and I'll say it again, I hate the new regs, but the entertainment value to a newer fan base probably is pretty good.

I'm afraid the above will keep the FIA from changing the regs significantly. It just sucks this was all forced on us because Audi wouldn't play unless it was more about the hybrid powertrains and the idiot politics of carbon neutral motorsports.

mts6175 said:

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Honestly, Max has a very valid point and this crash proved it. Drivers should walkout until they come up with a resolution.

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I think max is pissed that his car sucks. Yes the regs suck and they should walk out over the danger of getting in a wreck when another car drops 60 mph suddenly, but I don't think he's making that argument

tk for tu juan said:

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They will need to get it figured out before Eau Rouge (blind exit) and the high speed turn (Blanchimont) at Spa, plus the tunnel at Monaco

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Colapinto said it best… he compared it to being on an out lap while Bearman was on a push lap. The fact that those speed deltas are happening during the middle of an F1 race is no good at all.

📻 | Lewis Hamilton: “Where can I catch him [Piastri] more? He’s pulling a way in the straights.”

📻 | Santi: “15% less throttle into Turn 6 for more power.”

— deni (@fiagirly) March 29, 2026

Maybe they can use this at just the right time .....

Starting to not regret missing out on watching F1 this year due to not wanting to sign up for a subscription service (only streaming I pay for is YTTV, my HBO is tied to my grandfathered ATT plan).

From everything I can tell on this thread, it's not what I was used to watching the last several years. Sure it was getting a little boring with the overall dominance of a few teams, and not a ton of action on the track. But this year seams like it's all some electrical and programming based racing and not really down to overall car design and driver skill.

aggie4231 said:

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Starting to not regret missing out on watching F1 this year due to not wanting to sign up for a subscription service (only streaming I pay for is YTTV, my HBO is tied to my grandfathered ATT plan).

From everything I can tell on this thread, it's not what I was used to watching the last several years. Sure it was getting a little boring with the overall dominance of a few teams, and not a ton of action on the track. But this year seams like it's all some electrical and programming based racing and not really down to overall car design and driver skill.

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F1 is exciting this year if you have no idea what's going on or haven't watched it before. I think a lot of people have watched the 'F1' movie and are intrigued and they're targeting that audience.

Crofty can make a root canal sound exciting and all the battery dictated leapfrogging looks exciting if you don't realize it's just because people's engines are virtually turning off at certain points.

It'd be like a basketball game with a bunch of amazing slam dunks, but only because one side isn't playing defense so they can play defense later on.