F1 2026: Chinese GP - Shanghai (Mar 15)

[Rono63]

Mercedes P1 &2 for the Sprint.

Max P8 behind Gasly.

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

That's wild but LIN shouldn't be brake checking MAX.

Bad (!)

[///M Power-Belgium]

.

[///M Power-Belgium]

LEW

[Rono63]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

LEW

https://twitter.com/i/status/2032393479595143546

Go eat a pizza and stop looking at our car.

[///M Power-Belgium]

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

Bad (!)

As the Admiral chap says in Top Gun 'not good,not good'.

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

.

Keep trying with the spanners Pierre

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

LEW

Wonder if the Ferrari style flip flop rear wing would help the RB 22, there was news that RB may fit something like that.

[GuidoK]

Clearly team Mercedes strongest again by a mile.
And Ferrari got things reasonably sorted too, considering where they were last year.
RB is now the 4th team, and at a distance. They're much closer to teams like Haas and even Alpine than to McLaren.
That also shows how much better the Merc and Ferrari engines are.
I hope Max can gain some extra points pure on racecraft and that his engine doesn't blow..
RB has a long way to go.....a really long way. This is gonna take years, not months I'm afraid.
And afaik things are not really moving at RB. Their new wind tunnel still isn't finished/operational (latest news is that it might not even get finished this year...), and even then, it usually takes well over a year(!) to tune, understand and dial in a wind tunnel to produce predictable results.

Obviously now AMR has even bigger problems, but at least their new wind tunnel has been operational for half a year or so? (and they started planning it over a year after RB....so its a big snoozefest at RB).
So once (if) AMR gets their engine problems sorted, I expect them to sail past RB too with ease...
So RB will even drop further on the grid in the future I'm afraid.....(so even worse than the Mercedes crisis in 2022-2024)

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by GuidoK

Clearly team Mercedes strongest again by a mile.
And Ferrari got things reasonably sorted too, considering where they were last year.
RB is now the 4th team, and at a distance. They're much closer to teams like Haas and even Alpine than to McLaren.
That also shows how much better the Merc and Ferrari engines are.
I hope Max can gain some extra points pure on racecraft and that his engine doesn't blow..
RB has a long way to go.....a really long way. This is gonna take years, not months I'm afraid.
And afaik things are not really moving at RB. Their new wind tunnel still isn't finished/operational (latest news is that it might not even get finished this year...), and even then, it usually takes well over a year(!) to tune, understand and dial in a wind tunnel to produce predictable results.

Obviously now AMR has even bigger problems, but at least their new wind tunnel has been operational for half a year or so? (and they started planning it over a year after RB....so its a big snoozefest at RB).
So once (if) AMR gets their engine problems sorted, I expect them to sail past RB too with ease...
So RB will even drop further on the grid in the future I'm afraid.....(so even worse than the Mercedes crisis in 2022-2024)

So Red Bull still have to depend on the post-war wind tunnel in Bedford.

[GuidoK]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

So Red Bull still have to depend on the post-war wind tunnel in Bedford.

yeah, I believe it's like 70 years old or so now....

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

So Red Bull still have to depend on the post-war wind tunnel in Bedford.

Originally Posted by GuidoK

yeah, I believe it's like 70 years old or so now....

The Red Bull wind tunnel is a WWII design .

#LostInTime (!)

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

Keep trying with the spanners Pierre

Pierre Waché is a French donkey who stumbles over the same stone twice.

The 2026 RB22 s@cks again (!)

[Chihuahua]

Originally Posted by Toad

Yeah there's no BoP in F1, but that hasn't stopped people from asking for more overtaking

No it sure hasn't.

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

LEW

Originally Posted by Rono63

Go eat a pizza and stop looking at our car.

[///M Power-Belgium]

F1 in 2026 ..

True driver skills are replaced by a heavy pig battery (!)

[3798j]

Couldn't help but be impressed with how good the MB's and Ferrari's handle in the turns while so many seem so slow...or conversely the drivers so out of control in the turns that they're into the gravel when trying to bank a fast one. As was mentioned, it's going to be a long rough year for many teams.

[afadeev]

Originally Posted by GuidoK

Clearly team Mercedes strongest again by a mile.

Yep, especially during qualifying.
Whatever compression tricks Mercedes has are all deployed in full during quali, with 0.7-0.8 second gaps to the next fastest team in China (McLaren) and Australia (RedBull & Ferrari).

Originally Posted by GuidoK

And Ferrari got things reasonably sorted too, considering where they were last year.

Ferrari and McLaren are now "next best" teams.
It will be interesting to see if Ferrari super-start magic still holds in China, in which case, they may yet spoil Mercedes parade!

Originally Posted by GuidoK

RB is now the 4th team, and at a distance. They're much closer to teams like Haas and even Alpine than to McLaren.
That also shows how much better the Merc and Ferrari engines are.

RB qualification pace drop has been the shocker in China.
RB was 2nd best and 0.8 seconds off Mercedes pace in Australia, and are now 4th best and 1.8 seconds off Mercedes in China.

Somehow, RB got out-qualified by Alpine and Haas!
And it's not just one driver (VER) that is off pace, both of them are!

Originally Posted by GuidoK

RB has a long way to go.....a really long way. This is gonna take years, not months I'm afraid.

I suspect this is a one-off situation in China. No way have they lost full +1.0 second of pace to Mercedes in one week.
They must have royally screwed the setup or engine maps for China.

Originally Posted by GuidoK

So once (if) AMR gets their engine problems sorted, I expect them to sail past RB too with ease...

I don't see AM/Honda sorting the engine out this year. At all.
This entire year is a write-off for AMR and Caddirarri.
Williams, on the other hand, must still rise through the mid-field ranks.

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

True driver skills are replaced by a heavy pig battery (!)

True driver skill shines through equipment complexity.
Better drivers always rise to the top, especially during times of regulation changes!

a

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by afadeev

True driver skill shines through equipment complexity.

a

This are the true F1 driver skills and the equipment complexity in 2026 (!)

[Toad]

Originally Posted by Car-Addicted

We don't use the "BoP" word around here!

We do, and I just did.

[tracksidemanner]

Originally Posted by GuidoK

Clearly team Mercedes strongest again by a mile.
And Ferrari got things reasonably sorted too, considering where they were last year.
RB is now the 4th team, and at a distance. They're much closer to teams like Haas and even Alpine than to McLaren.
That also shows how much better the Merc and Ferrari engines are.
I hope Max can gain some extra points pure on racecraft and that his engine doesn't blow..
RB has a long way to go.....a really long way. This is gonna take years, not months I'm afraid.
And afaik things are not really moving at RB. Their new wind tunnel still isn't finished/operational (latest news is that it might not even get finished this year...), and even then, it usually takes well over a year(!) to tune, understand and dial in a wind tunnel to produce predictable results.

Obviously now AMR has even bigger problems, but at least their new wind tunnel has been operational for half a year or so? (and they started planning it over a year after RB....so its a big snoozefest at RB).
So once (if) AMR gets their engine problems sorted, I expect them to sail past RB too with ease...
So RB will even drop further on the grid in the future I'm afraid.....(so even worse than the Mercedes crisis in 2022-2024)

The RB does not look good at all and it certainly is not the engine.. I believe it is only a matter of time before Max opts to leave RB and one lucky suiter (MB most likely due to relationship with Toto and ability to do more enduro racing too) gets to retain his services.