re: 2026 Formula 1 (F1) Season Thread

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Not a fan of this new formula.

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We will see what comes of it, but not very hopeful this season won't be a shitshow.

So weird seeing the front wing open and close now, but I do like that they got rid of DRS zones and allow the drivers to open and close when they see fit.

Goes back to the Alonso primetime days "I knew he would break because he's got kids"... Drivers can run the wing open to the extreme.

The F1 commitment to road relevance is driving the issue more than the net zero.

The cost savings aspect doesn’t help.

The cost cap should have solved the unlimited testing aspect so I don't know why that rule can't be relaxed. Do away with a FP in exchange for more testing.

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So are they forcing these shite cars just because of the “net zero” bullshite? Its ridiculous. The emissions from the cars is absolutely nothing compared to the emissions from jets moving all their shite around the world. Just go back to v12 no battery bullshite

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I feel like we’ve all been scammed. frick the FIA.

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So how could i watch this?

Without Apple of course.

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Gotta sail the high seas, my friend.

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but I do like that they got rid of DRS zones and allow the drivers to open and close when they see fit.

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I didn't think drivers had control. I thought it was completely automated now. If you qualified to access it for the lap at the one detection zone it would automatically open and close in the relevant points of the track.

If anything I feel like only having one detection point is too punishing. If your leading, you're fricked for the entire lap if you're .999 ahead at the detection point. If your chasing your fricked for an entire lap if you're 1.001 behind at the single point.

I think it had more to do with getting manufacturers like Honda and Audi involved. They are catering to them with these engine regs.

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I didn't think drivers had control. I thought it was completely automated now. If you qualified to access it for the lap at the one detection zone it would automatically open and close in the relevant points of the track

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Everyone can use it in approved areas at all times. Leading or following.

Only exclusions are lap 1 turn 1 and when weather conditions are adverse

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indycar could get a better presentation and have someone other than palou win, t

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The ovals kill people wanting to watch racing. Also drivers electing not to compete for part of the season due in part to that.

It is not a sexy league with races in Illinois, Arlington or Milwakee. Too many drivers and different sponsor combos to make someone wanting to casually watch get engaged.

Also they keep a development league image when their top drivers always seem to have one eye on F1

This is some BS. Can we go back to V10s and get rid of all this nonsense

My 2 cents.

I am not watching this year, tired of sports in general selling out to streaming services of so many different ones. Its my lone protest vote. I am following online and via social media but not Apple. At some point I’ll tire of that and just let it go.

Looking at the bigger picture F1 made some huge blunders. Moving to Apple when ESPN had done such an outstanding job and helped grow the sport in US. Before ESPN I never followed F1 except a few big TV shown race. But it was easy to do ESPN and could record and watch them.

Last year has some excitement with the title chase. And their viewing numbers were growing. They also added Caddy which is an American car team and would have added more US viewers had it stayed with ESPN.

Moving to Apple was a massive mistake. They will lose 70% of US audience if not more.

Last night I used Twitter to see how qualifying went. Just typed in F1 in search and sorted by most recent. This gave me comments from all over the world, some were auto translated for different languages.

I was shocked at all the complaints. From the car being trash to Apple not working well to hating commentators. I would guess over 80% of comments were negative. So many disgruntled fans and not just US ones.

The complaints about the car were big. No one likes this electric car, lots of comments about them already having an electric series for F1 and not needing this one to have it. Lots of complaints about issues with Apple and forced to get the Apple commentators and not their usual ones.

This was the wrong year to go Apple. And the comments about car not being a drivers car it was confusing to most fans how it even works.

They will try hard to excuse the coming big drop in viewers but the biggest issue is the fans who leave will not come back. I saw this exact thing happen in Nascar. It wasn’t just Dale, it was changing to clone car and adding too many regulations. And Nascar used to get 18m viewers, Nascar was living high on the hog and thought they could do whatever they wanted and keep viewers.

Now Nascar is happy with 4m but gets less than that for most races. And they are just now realizing they need to try and claw back some viewers but its too late they will never be what they were. F1 is going down the same exact path by making the car electric and changing to Apple.

Nascar and Indycar stand to gain some viewers if they play their cards right. Racing fans still like racing. Those stopping F1 might move to the other 2 series. Nascar too has 5 races on Prime and those 5 races lost 35% of viewers last year. For lots of fans Memorial Day was F1, Indy and Nascar. Last year it was F1 and Indy since Nascar was on Prime. This year its only Indycar as F1 is on Apple and Nascar on Prime. These deals have lost viewers, the series sold out their fans for dollars.