2026 Australian Grand Prix

[FLRacingFan]

The Mercs are just so good. Even after the Ferraris pitted and had a tire life advantage they never really made any headway on catching RUS or ANT.

The opening laps were much wilder than I hoped for even if it was a little cartoony. Though I wonder how sustainable that is once we get to tracks where you can regen more and you don’t have guys passing and getting repassed based upon when you blow your load with the battery.

 

[Get That 88 Up There !!]

Count on Ferrari strategists to turn a potentially compelling fight for the win into a Merc runaway. How do you not split the strategy? Until they finally shore that up I’m highly skeptical of their ability to really make this a championship battle.

Until I’m proven otherwise I have zero confidence in winning anything beyond some races. They still haven’t learned from 2017 and 2018

 

[donthaveanickname]

Well the beginning was exciting even though it later got quite processional at the front.

I blame Ferrari and their ****** up strategy because they could've put up a fight until the very end.

This was better than most Australian GPs, especially much better than 2014.

 

[gnomesayin]

Fun and spicy opening segment of the race. The results set up quite a bit of intrigue going forward.

 

[Doc Austin]

 

[virtualbalboa]

They promised Formula E on steroids and we got it. I'm not 100% sure on this yet as far as whether or not I find the regs and racing appealing but I appreciate that we at least get separation between cars.

 

[Hotrod]

I was very happy with my highlite recaps. F1.com youtube channel does a good job posting them promptly after each session. I throw all the recaps in a dedicated playlist and can watch them all back to back in about 40 minutes and since I have YT Premium, no commercials. Then delete them to make room for the next race recaps.

Its good seeing Mercs and Ferrari back in the battle. Looks like a teething
year ahead for Cadi, still early though.

 

[Tony_K]

Entertaining race. Watched it this morning but couldn't find the Sky tv version so had to settle with the F1 tv feed. Was able to view it during "live" time but not available on replay? Still trying to figure out this streaming stuff.

 

[Doc Austin]

I've read Oz is the fourth worst track for these cars and energy harvesting. Since the cars were new and this was a bad track for them, it looking there was a lot of decent racing.

 

[Marcingak]

Only 6 cars finished on the lead lap. This will be a bad season.

 

[Doc Austin]

Remember the fake Alonso/Button "podium" from Brazil 2015?

For those who don't, they were in the dumper at McLaren/Honda. The motors were dog slow and blew up. They received 100 grid penalties for Honda engines, turbos and stuff being replaced to which Alonso says, referring to Honda "Maybe we should bake them a cake."

In Brazil they saw the podium was empty, so they snuck up there for a few photos. Replace Button with Lance and we could very well see the same thing!

 

[virtualbalboa]

I've read Oz is the fourth worst track for these cars and energy harvesting. Since the cars were new and this was a bad track for them, it looking there was a lot of decent racing.

Yeah, the more I've thought about it today, the less excited I am. I think I am like a lot of fans who have a sort of generalized expectation that in the fire of competition, things will improve quickly. That's an emotional response based on past history. There is a problem with that now. The batteries are the batteries: we know what the potential capacity of them is and what can be deployed in these cars. The reason why we were warned for the last two years that these cars would be slow and possibly unstable is because this is a physics/math problem and there is no solution. Teams of hundreds of people have had years to find a solution. They never did. They're not finding one this year. They might not find one for years. This is probably what F1 is going to look like for awhile.

 

[Doc Austin]

Only 6 cars finished on the lead lap.

Kind of like in the old days, right? More than once there's only been one car on the lead lap. One year at Spain they cut the race short and still only had six finishers.

You've only got eight cars that have a legit win (Merc, Ferrari, Mclaren, Red Bull), so unless we have a twilight zone deal, that's where the winner is coming from. That's up from last year's three.

This will be a bad season.

I know the sentiment and fear you could be right, but since it's the world championship I just can't turn it off (what little I get). All that's left is giving it a chance. Even if it sucks there will be lots of interesting stories.

Man, the Aston thing is getting to be a stinking mess. Newey blaming Honda, Honde saying relations must improve......all while the combination sucks. I mean Alonso is the only one being diplomatic. Stroll seems completely uninterested as in it's hard to get more than a sentence out of him. I think he's so fed up he doesn't care anymore. Unbelievably, (I read) Newey is talking to Christian Horner about coming over. I think that would set that program right because Horner has worked with Honda before and knows how to deal with them. You don't do it like Newey has been.

 

[Doc Austin]

Yeah, the more I've thought about it today, the less excited I am.

Well, give it a chance.

The batteries are the batteries: we know what the potential capacity of them is and what can be deployed in these cars.

Ah, what can be deployed might be a partial fix. The FIA controls just about everything, so why not drop the deployment rate to eliminate clipping? They certainly have enough data to know where to set it. They also know how to police it.

The reason why we were warned for the last two years that these cars would be slow and possibly unstable is because this is a physics/math problem and there is no solution.

I fully expect we will see a blow over or two. Getting rid of that would save a few pounds too.