Motosport General discussion tread --- Formula1, MotoGP, WTCC, ETCC, DTM.....

[goodpunt]

I absolutely missed the British GP and just checked the results
Not sure where my head was but of course happy for Leclerc and Hamilton!
I have no idea what happened in the race, so will now read the recap.
But fantastic to see Ferrari back in the mix!

[tokeweed]

^  Yup same...  This was one of the races that I was looking forward to and I wasn't able to watch it.    And it looked like it was a great race too.  Leclerc getting first..?  What happened there?  Would've loved to see Hamilton get it.

But good thing the next race is another one I'm looking forward to.  The Belgian Grand Prix. 

2026 F1 British Grand Prix - Grand Prix Race Results

1   Charles Leclerc   MON   Scuderia Ferrari HP   52 Laps
2   George Russell   GBR   Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team   +0.427s
3   Lewis Hamilton   GBR   Scuderia Ferrari HP   +0.772s
4   Lando Norris   GBR   McLaren Mastercard F1 Team   +1.149s
5   Isack Hadjar   FRA   Oracle Red Bull Racing   +1.598s
6   Liam Lawson   NZD   Racing Bulls   +2.023s
7   Arvid Lindblad   GBR   Racing Bulls   +2.214s
8   Gabriel Bortoleto   BRA   Audi Revolut F1 Team   +2.413s
9   Franco Colapinto   ARG   BWT Alpine F1 Team   +3.229s
10   Pierre Gasly   FRA   BWT Alpine F1 Team   +3.445s
11   Oscar Piastri   AUS   McLaren Mastercard F1 Team   +4.014s
12   Carlos Sainz   ESP   Atlassian Williams F1 Team   +4.391s
13   Ollie Bearman   GBR   TGR Haas F1 Team   +5.245s
14   Esteban Ocon   FRA   TGR Haas F1 Team   +5.512s
15   Sergio Perez   MEX   Cadillac F1 Team   +7.403s
16   Kimi Antonelli   ITA   Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team   +8.005s
17   Valtteri Bottas   FIN   Cadillac F1 Team   +8.162s
18   Fernando Alonso   ESP   Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team   +1 Lap
19   Lance Stroll   CAN   Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team   +1 Lap
20   Max Verstappen   NED   Oracle Red Bull Racing   +6 Laps
DNF   Alex Albon   THA   Atlassian Williams F1 Team   +9 Laps
DNF   Nico Hulkenberg   GER   Audi Revolut F1 Team   +16 Laps

[retreat]

This was Charles's first win of the season. He looked so solid in this race, posing a serious threat to Kimi, who had briefly held P1, but unfortunately, Kimi encountered a problem with his car, allowing Charles to seize the opportunity and push his car to the limit. Meanwhile, Hamilton had to settle for P3 after a mistake cost him several seconds – it was such a shame for him, especially since he had a great chance to win this race. As for Max, it was too bad that he crashed and had to retire from the race. He still had a chance to really push his car for a podium finish, but he was just unlucky that his car was out of balance and he crashed.

Overall, the British Grand Prix didn't disappoint and was quite exciting to watch. The next race is in Belgium, let's see what happens.

[FanEagle]

This was Charles's first win of the season. He looked so solid in this race, posing a serious threat to Kimi, who had briefly held P1, but unfortunately, Kimi encountered a problem with his car, allowing Charles to seize the opportunity and push his car to the limit. Meanwhile, Hamilton had to settle for P3 after a mistake cost him several seconds – it was such a shame for him, especially since he had a great chance to win this race. As for Max, it was too bad that he crashed and had to retire from the race. He still had a chance to really push his car for a podium finish, but he was just unlucky that his car was out of balance and he crashed.

Overall, the British Grand Prix didn't disappoint and was quite exciting to watch. The next race is in Belgium, let's see what happens.

It was sad to see it finish under safety car though, it did not look like it should have been like that and we should have seen this be something much different. I mean I get that Max went off and they had to get the safety car out, there is no denying that, without safety car it would have bene a trouble. But at the very least they could have gotten them one lap of racing, it was not impossible to make that happen.

In any case, I think we should have seen this be something a lot better. Charles winning was decent, it's at least a good thing that we are no longer seeing just Mercedes dominating, we are seeing Ferrari having some wins here and there, not a lot but still enough to keep it interesting for a while.

[goodpunt]

^  Yup same...  This was one of the races that I was looking forward to and I wasn't able to watch it.    And it looked like it was a great race too.  Leclerc getting first..?  What happened there?  Would've loved to see Hamilton get it.

Looks like Ferrari's pit wall made a blunder again when they pitted Hamilton under the safety car.....absolute miscalculation -_-
He surely lost valuable Championship points here since P2 was actually safe.

What surprised me the most was that Russell just lucked out and was never in contention.

[karabiber]

Hamilton’s pit call following the crash in the final laps was not a strategic mistake by Ferrari. If Ferrari hadn’t called him in, Russell would have pitted. According to game theory, Russell was forced to do the opposite of what his rival did. It was impossible for him to pass his rival by doing exactly what his rival did. At that point, Russell took a huge gamble and it paid off. Because under normal circumstances, the safety car would have come out on the final lap, and the race would have continued. Whoever had fresh tires would have finished second. In other words, it was an unlucky final lap for Hamilton and Ferrari.

[Volgastallion]

In this case i dont blame the Ferrari team in terms of decission taking since is not easy to make a call to box or not when you know you didnt have the best car overall, with that in mind you know every second and milisecond counts and no matter what you do it could end in a bad way, is much more easy to comment from here than taking the real decission from the wall.

[fluffaloo]

In this case i dont blame the Ferrari team in terms of decission taking since is not easy to make a call to box or not when you know you didnt have the best car overall, with that in mind you know every second and milisecond counts and no matter what you do it could end in a bad way, is much more easy to comment from here than taking the real decission from the wall.

In racing, time is king, every second makes a difference, if they call to the box they do it for a reason and it's always important.
Commenting on choices is easy for us mere mortals, but in fact you have to have a clear mind, you have to be prepared and the team must also be prepared, we see it as a video game, they are real professional machines.
Besides the driver, the most work is done right in the pits, let's remember this.

[Distraction]

There are some recent news like Piastri is fed up with the way he is being treated at McLaren and he wants to leave by the end of this season... This points to one thing then.

Max to McLaren could be really happening next season!    He is already not happy at Red Bull. I can't imagine his frustration after the British Grand Prix also. I think he would take this chance for himself to start off with a clean slate.

[tokeweed]

So after all the fun in Silverstone, we go onto the next...  The Belgian GP.  I'm glad it's one of the races that's still using the old format.

2026 F1 Belgian GP Schedule
Track:  Circuit de Spa  Francorchamps



July 17, Friday:  Practice 1  13:30 - 14:30
July 17, Friday:  Practice 2  19:00 - 20:00
July 18, Saturday:  Practice 3  12:30 - 13:30
July 19, Saturday:  Qualifying  16:00 - 17:00
July 19, Sunday:  Race  15:00

Who do you guys think is gonna win the race?  Will Ferrari come in strong again or will the Merc boys make sure they get back on top?

[retreat]

There are some recent news like Piastri is fed up with the way he is being treated at McLaren and he wants to leave by the end of this season... This points to one thing then.

Max to McLaren could be really happening next season!    He is already not happy at Red Bull. I can't imagine his frustration after the British Grand Prix also. I think he would take this chance for himself to start off with a clean slate.

Yeah, it's been a strong rumor circulating for some time now that Max will be moving to McLaren due to Piastri's displeasure with McLaren. It's said that McLaren and Max are in the closing stages of a lengthy negotiation. We still can't confirm whether this rumor is credible or not. Because so far, from what we've heard, Max is closely linked to Toto, and his move to McLaren is something we didn't expect because both Norris and Piastri are still quite strong on the grid, it's just that Piastri has long been unhappy with Norris always being prioritized over him. Let's see how this news develops, but I think Mercedes is still a more rational option for Max.

[tokeweed]

^  If Verstappen can't get in Mercedes or if Toto Wolff has cooled his interest on Verstappen then it will prolly be a waste of time for him to be in McLaren.  Under the new specs, there's only one team that's gonna dominate and that's Mercedes.  It would be better for Verstappen to move to Ferrari if the team will take him in...

So instead of a Verstappen - Antonelli pairing which would be exciting in and of itself, we'll see a better one...  A Verstappen - Hamilton pairing and with Christian Horner at the helm as team principal.   

Please F1 gods, make it happen.  Lmao.

[Volgastallion]

Formula1 as a sport shares with football something at his very high level and is you need to balance all the egos from the stars more than anything, i mean if you are a team principal from a top team you ahve to carry the relatinship between your two stars drivers and also the relationship of them with the rest of the teams, they always gonna feel like they are not being treadted well and you ahve to talk everysingle day with them, the same happen in the dressroom of a top team when a star player wants more minutes, you need to calm him before he start to destroy the team from within, is more like being a psycology than a coach or team principal.

And this happen right now with Piastri, before with Verstappen, the same with Lelecr, hamilton and everysingle driver in the grid.

[Distraction]

^  If Verstappen can't get in Mercedes or if Toto Wolff has cooled his interest on Verstappen then it will prolly be a waste of time for him to be in McLaren.  Under the new specs, there's only one team that's gonna dominate and that's Mercedes.  It would be better for Verstappen to move to Ferrari if the team will take him in...

If McLaren can't get as good as last season then yeah. A really challenging adventure is waiting for Max there also!    This season isn't going wonderful for them in the end.

I can't say they are way above Red Bull in constructor standings. I was also waiting for Mercedes to make a move after Russell's failing in so many races. But Toto spoke like they were happy with keeping Russell anyway.

So instead of a Verstappen - Antonelli pairing which would be exciting in and of itself, we'll see a better one...  A Verstappen - Hamilton pairing and with Christian Horner at the helm as team principal.  

Please F1 gods, make it happen.  Lmao.

By the way I have read that Horner is returning to F1 soon. But we don't know which team it will be...

[retreat]

^  If Verstappen can't get in Mercedes or if Toto Wolff has cooled his interest on Verstappen then it will prolly be a waste of time for him to be in McLaren.  Under the new specs, there's only one team that's gonna dominate and that's Mercedes.  It would be better for Verstappen to move to Ferrari if the team will take him in...

So instead of a Verstappen - Antonelli pairing which would be exciting in and of itself, we'll see a better one...  A Verstappen - Hamilton pairing and with Christian Horner at the helm as team principal.   

Please F1 gods, make it happen.  Lmao.

Lol, that's probably not going to happen 

But whatever it is, I think Max will just go to a team that can give him a better opportunity. I don't know what Zack is offering him, but at this point, Max just isn't a good fit for McLaren. I agree that he's wasting his time there. The Mercs are still his best option for getting another WC.

But Red Bull's offer is still attractive, he would become CEO of Racing Bull. I don't think Max would pass that up 

[FanEagle]

^  If Verstappen can't get in Mercedes or if Toto Wolff has cooled his interest on Verstappen then it will prolly be a waste of time for him to be in McLaren.  Under the new specs, there's only one team that's gonna dominate and that's Mercedes.  It would be better for Verstappen to move to Ferrari if the team will take him in...

So instead of a Verstappen - Antonelli pairing which would be exciting in and of itself, we'll see a better one...  A Verstappen - Hamilton pairing and with Christian Horner at the helm as team principal.   

Please F1 gods, make it happen.  Lmao.

I would not be 100% sure about Mercedes, there seems to be some good things going on with Ferrari at the moment and as we all know, in these type of huge changes for the cars, we do see leaps happen all the time. There is like few seconds difference between last years cars, and this years cars, and I am pretty sure by the end of this era, we are going to see cars be few seconds faster.

That means, whoever makes the changes first, will have the first leap, and could win the title. Remember, McLaren sucked for so long then did one change and suddenly they were champions, something like that could happen with any team. I think if Mercedes doesn't want Max anymore, Max could leave for any team, and have a chance, we would never know.

[Distraction]

It's sad not to have any race this weekend. By the way I'm wondering if Ferrari is really fixing things lately. They gave some hope in Austria first but failed to finish on podium in the race.

However they did a mega work in Great Britain! I was expecting Hamilton for the win but Leclerc did it. 2 cars on podium... Now Ferrari is 2nd by being 78 points behind Mercedes in the standings. I'm just wondering... 

[Webetcoins]

Well with Antonelli finishing outside of points, that gave Russel a chance, while Russell failed to win the race, at least he was second and that gave him some good points.

The gap right now is only 25 points and that could close even in a single race, while I am sure it will not close in a single race, the chances are there in a few races. Ferrari isn't "that" far off neither, Hamilton is only 32 points away from the top and that is a huge achievement with a worse car than Mercedes.

[Italian Panic]

Well with Antonelli finishing outside of points, that gave Russel a chance, while Russell failed to win the race, at least he was second and that gave him some good points.

The gap right now is only 25 points and that could close even in a single race, while I am sure it will not close in a single race, the chances are there in a few races. Ferrari isn't "that" far off neither, Hamilton is only 32 points away from the top and that is a huge achievement with a worse car than Mercedes.

It would be a shame if Kimi Antonelli were to miss out on the world title because of Mercedes reliability issues; the car was incredibly fast  let’s hope it was just a one off. Even Toto Wolff has said that Antonelli is an incredible driver for his age and that he deserves the world title. In fact, we all think so, and we believe it would mark a new dawn for Italy after the difficult years Ferrari has endured.

[retreat]

Well with Antonelli finishing outside of points, that gave Russel a chance, while Russell failed to win the race, at least he was second and that gave him some good points.

The gap right now is only 25 points and that could close even in a single race, while I am sure it will not close in a single race, the chances are there in a few races. Ferrari isn't "that" far off neither, Hamilton is only 32 points away from the top and that is a huge achievement with a worse car than Mercedes.

Currently, the only thing preventing Kimi from becoming the youngest WC driver is his car, which has had several problems that have prevented him from winning races. If he hadn't had those problems, the 25-point gap between him and Russell would have been even wider. So now, if his team can resolve the reliability issues, he has every opportunity to turn the championship battle in his favor, making it much harder for Russell and Hamilton to catch him. And becoming the youngest WC driver this season is even more likely for him.