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

[retreat]

If Ferrari hadn’t been so clumsy, it might even have been 1–2, it seems. Despite such a dreadful strategy, they managed a respectable 3–4, and the drivers are certainly doing the car justice anyway. I do like Ferrari, but unfortunately the cars aren’t up to scratch. 

The problem with Ferrari is that their engine isn't working as they expected. Right now they're running ADUO 2, which is supposed to give extra performance, but it doesn't seem to help at all even though they've improved in aerodynamics. They really need to focus on developing their engine. Not to mention their strategy, this is actually the most chaotic part. They wanted to gamble in yesterday's race, believing the track would dry quickly, but instead they dropped with their dry tires. This is why Ferrari is so hard to improve, because they have a hard time accepting input from their drivers and trust their strategy more.

[retreat]

So in this Singapore GP, Mercedes decided to do a "downgrade" on one of their drivers, and Russell will take that downgrade. Russell will be using an older car specification for this Singapore GP. This split-specification comparison test was done to help tackle issues with the aerodynamic updates they've implemented. Kimi will run the Malaysia upgrade package for the entire weekend to maintain his car's performance and reduce the chance that he might lose points in this race. Especially since Russell will get a penalty in the race later because of his issues in the Sepang GP, it makes more sense for him to go with the previous specification.

[tokeweed]

^  Looks like Russell is pushing it at FP1 with his car's old specs.  Let's see if he could improve the pace when the other teams start pushing their own cars themselves.    But it would be interesting if Russell finishes top 6 with that 'downgrade'.

Here are the results.

2026 F1 Singapore Grand Prix FP1 Results

1   George Russell   GBR   Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team   1m32.274
2   Charles Leclerc   MON   Scuderia Ferrari HP   1m32.472
3   Lando Norris   GBR   McLaren Mastercard F1 Team   1m32.547
4   Lewis Hamilton   GBR   Scuderia Ferrari HP   1m32.773
5   Oscar Piastri    AUS   McLaren Mastercard F1 Team   1m32.838
6   Max Verstappen   NED   Oracle Red Bull Racing   1m33.006
7   Kimi Antonelli   ITA   Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team   1m33.525
8   Isack Hajdar    FRA   Oracle Red Bull Racing   1m33.723
9   Pierre Gasly   FRA   BWT Alpine F1 Team   1m34.038
10   Liam Lawson   NZL   Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team   1m34.155
11   Oliver Bearman   GBR   TGR Haas F1 Team   1m34.331
12   Arvid Lindblad   GBR   Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team   1m34.476
13   Esteban Ocon   FRA   TGR Haas F1 Team   1m34.481
14   Fernando Alonso   ESP   Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team   1m34.495
15   Carlos Sainz   ESP   Atlassian Williams F1 Team   1m34.651
16   Gabriel Bortoleto   BRA   Audi Revolut F1 Team   1m34.736
17   Alex Albon   THA   Atlassian Williams F1 Team   1m34.805
18   Nico Hulkenberg   GER   Audi Revolut F1 Team   1m34.884
19   Franco Colapinto   ARG   BWT Alpine F1 Team   1m34.983
20   Lance Stroll   CAN   Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team   1m35.268
21   Sergio Perez   MEX   Cadillac F1 Team   1m35.299
22   Valtteri Bottas   FIN   Cadillac F1 Team   1m35.620

[retreat]

^  Looks like Russell is pushing it at FP1 with his car's old specs.  Let's see if he could improve the pace when the other teams start pushing their own cars themselves.    But it would be interesting if Russell finishes top 6 with that 'downgrade'.

Yup, he did push quite well, but since it was FP1, we can't conclude much yet. However, Russell secured P4 in SQ2, so I think he might be able to secure a good position in this sprint qualifying session.

As for Ferrari, they're still at the top of SQ2, and they're doing quite well, but hopefully they can maintain their position until the end.

Max also slightly underperformed in SQ2 and is still trying to push for a position, but it might be a bit difficult for him.

Sprint qualifying is still underway, and we'll see how it goes.

[retreat]

Max just did it again. He really pushed in Q3 and secured pole position in the upcoming sprint race. But unfortunately, he might be facing a grid penalty for overtaking Hamilton in Q1. If so, Russell was quite lucky because he was able to secure pole position in the upcoming sprint race even with his downgraded car.

As for Ferrari, even though they were quite good in Q2, it was just so unlucky that Max and Russell pushed and forced Charles to P3, while Hamilton couldn't improve and remained in P6.

And Kimi was left so frustrated by his car. Even though he was using an upgraded spec, it still seemed unstable and prevented him from improving his position.

2026 F1 Singapore Grand Prix - Sprint Qualifying results
Pos    Driver    Nat.   Team    SQ1   SQ2   SQ3
1   Max Verstappen   NED   Oracle Red Bull Racing   1m33.477   1m32.701   1m31.156
2   George Russell   GBR   Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team   1m33.573   1m32.614   1m31.276
3   Charles Leclerc   MON   Scuderia Ferrari HP   1m33.495   1m32.246   1m31.399
4   Oscar Piastri   AUS   McLaren Mastercard F1 Team   1m34.277   1m33.106   1m31.454
5   Lando Norris   GBR   McLaren Mastercard F1 Team   1m34.257   1m32.572   1m31.653
6   Lewis Hamilton   GBR   Scuderia Ferrari HP   1m33.748   1m32.562   1m31.702
7   Kimi Antonelli   ITA   Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team   1m34.392   1m32.998   1m31.849
8   Liam Lawson   NZL   Racing Bulls   1m34.855   1m33.133   1m32.341
9   Isack Hadjar   JAP   Oracle Red Bull Racing   1m34.182   1m32.947   No Time Set
10   Pierre Gasly   FRA   BWT Alpine F1 Team   1m34.673   1m33.155   No Time Set

[NeuroticFish]

9   Isack Hadjar   JAP   Oracle Red Bull Racing   1m34.182   1m32.947   No Time Set

I guess that somebody made a mix between Hadjar and Tsunoda, resulting that Japanese nationality 

And Kimi was left so frustrated by his car. Even though he was using an upgraded spec, it still seemed unstable and prevented him from improving his position.

Yes, I've read and I'm somewhat surprised that George with old PU did so much better than Kimi with much newer hardware.
But there may be only that Mercedes didn't have enough time to set Kimi's setup right. This is the "beauty" of Sprint race: more fun for the viewers, more frustration for the teams.
I am unsure how far they are from the correct setup, so Kimi's result, at least in the Sprint, is a big question mark.

Max just did it again. He really pushed in Q3 and secured pole position in the upcoming sprint race. But unfortunately, he might be facing a grid penalty for overtaking Hamilton in Q1.

It's not unexpected. I've read that they made progress in obtaining more power overall from the electric engine.
And the previous race was already an indicator. For RedBull, the setup from Sepang may just be the best also here.

[retreat]

9   Isack Hadjar   JAP   Oracle Red Bull Racing   1m34.182   1m32.947   No Time Set

I guess that somebody made a mix between Hadjar and Tsunoda, resulting that Japanese nationality 

Didn't notice that 


And the sprint race is still ongoing after the rain. It's going to be a pretty challenging race because of the weather and the street circuit. Max is still in the lead for now, followed by Ferrari. And so far, five drivers have DNF'd. Let's see how this sprint race goes.

[tokeweed]

Looks like Verstappen and his 'crappy car' are on a mission to win another race and break Toto Wolff's party.   

But let's see how it goes after qualifying.    It started kinda late and they're still at Q1 from what I'm seeing rn at F1's website.  Can't watch it live.  No money to pay a sub and too lazy to look for a stream.  Lolol. 

But yeah...  Anybody watching it live?

[retreat]

Looks like Verstappen and his 'crappy car' are on a mission to win another race and break Toto Wolff's party.   

But let's see how it goes after qualifying.    It started kinda late and they're still at Q1 from what I'm seeing rn at F1's website.  Can't watch it live.  No money to pay a sub and too lazy to look for a stream.  Lolol. 

But yeah...  Anybody watching it live?

Damn lol 


But yeah, I only watched it up to Q2, and then left because I had other stuff to do. Besides, from the start, after seeing the Sprint results, I figured the outcome wouldn’t be much different, and indeed Max got pole position, his first pole there. He was followed by Hamilton and Charles, both pushing in Q3 and managing to knock Kimi off the P2 spot for a while. It seems like tomorrow the race result won’t be much different, even if it rains, I’m pretty sure Max will just win it – one thing to keep an eye on is the gearbox issue since Max complained about it, but the RB engineers should be able to handle it, because previously Hadjar had that problem and had to retire from qualifying.

2026 F1 Singapore Grand Prix - Starting Grid *after George Russell penalty
Pos    Driver    Nat.   Team    Q1   Q2   Q3
1   Max Verstappen   NED   Oracle Red Bull Racing
2   Charles Leclerc   MON   Scuderia Ferrari HP
3   Lewis Hamilton   GBR   Scuderia Ferrari HP
4   Kimi Antonelli   ITA   Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team
5   Lando Norris   GBR   McLaren Mastercard F1 Team
6   Oscar Piastri   AUS   McLaren Mastercard F1 Team
7   Pierre Gasly   FRA   BWT Alpine F1 Team
8   Liam Lawson   NZL   Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team
9   Arvid Lindblad   GBR   Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team
10   Nico Hulkenberg   GER   Audi Revolut F1 Team

[tokeweed]

^  Verstappen and his 'crappy car won't...  I guess the bookies will start adjusting the lines again and favor Verstappen more..?  I think that's the time to start looking into what Mercedes is up to as far as upgrades and car tweaks go.  

But hopefully the bookies will line Antonelli with decent odds in 'to finish top 3'.  I think Leclerc doing well and finishing second is a fluke.  We might not see it happen at next remaining races.

2026 F1 Singapore Grand Prix Race Results

Pos    Driver    Nat.   Team    Gap
1   Max Verstappen   NED   Oracle Red Bull Racing   62 laps
2   Charles Leclerc   MON   Scuderia Ferrari HP   7.3s
3   Andrea Kimi Antonelli   ITA   Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team   24.5s
4   Lando Norris   GBR   McLaren Mastercard F1 Team   40.5s
5   Oscar Piastri   AUS   McLaren Mastercard F1 Team   49.6s
6   Lewis Hamilton   GBR   Scuderia Ferrari HP   53.1s
7   Liam Lawson   NZD   Racing Bulls   81.6s
8   Nico Hulkenberg   GER   Audi Revolut F1 Team   83.3s
9   George Russell   GBR   Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team   84.6s
10   Isack Hadjar   FRA   Oracle Red Bull Racing   90.8s
11   Pierre Gasly   FRA   BWT Alpine F1 Team   1 lap
12   Ollie Bearman   GBR   TGR Haas F1 Team   1 lap
13   Esteban Ocon   FRA   TGR Haas F1 Team   1 lap
14   Carlos Sainz   ESP   Atlassian Williams F1 Team   1 lap
15   Arvid Lindblad   GBR   Racing Bulls   1 lap
16   Fernando Alonso   ESP   Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team   1 lap
17   Sergio Perez   MEX   Cadillac F1 Team   2 laps
18   Valtteri Bottas   FIN   Cadillac F1 Team   3 laps
DNF   Alex Albon   THA   Atlassian Williams F1 Team   3 laps
DNF   Gabriel Bortoleto   BRA   Audi Revolut F1 Team   26 laps
DNF   Franco Colapinto   ARG   BWT Alpine F1 Team   33 laps
DNF   Lance Stroll   CAN   Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team   55 laps

[retreat]

It has been predicted that Max could win this race. He's just really good on this track. It seems like Red Bull are really doing their best for the rest of the season. It's just that Kimi might be able to lock the WDC this season at the Austin GP if he's able to win it. Because right now he's ahead by 102 points over George Russell. But if not, then it might go on to the Mexico GP. However, sooner or later, he has a big chance to secure the title and become the youngest world champion in F1 history.

As for the WCC, the competition might still be on, since Ferrari's position still allows them to keep up with Mercedes for the rest of the season. So if Ferrari wants to lock the WCC, then Charles and Hamilton need to perform at their best. However, it is definitely much more challenging, especially with their extraordinary strategy.

2026 FORMULA 1 DRIVERS' WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Pos    Driver    Nat.   Team    Wins    Points
1   Andrea Kimi Antonelli   ITA   Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team   8   340
2   George Russell   GBR   Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team   3   238
3   Lewis Hamilton   GBR   Scuderia Ferrari HP   1   229
4   Max Verstappen   NED   Oracle Red Bull Racing   2   221
5   Charles Leclerc   MON   Scuderia Ferrari HP   1   215
6   Lando Norris   GBR   McLaren Mastercard F1 Team   2   201
7   Oscar Piastri    AUS   McLaren Mastercard F1 Team   0   138
8   Isack Hadjar   FRA   Oracle Red Bull Racing   0   97
9   Liam Lawson   NZL   Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team   0   75
10   Pierre Gasly   FRA   BWT Alpine F1 Team   0   41

[karabiber]

Regulatory changes always add excitement to F1 because they create an environment more open to surprises. However, this year’s cars and rules are more frustrating than exciting. The teams aren’t happy, the drivers aren’t happy, and the fans aren’t happy. F1 management will, of course, make the necessary adjustments over time, but the frustrating part is that nearly an entire season is being wasted in the process. Moreover, the issues aren’t just those stemming from the adjustment period there are a host of problems that directly affect the enjoyment of the races we’re watching.

[tokeweed]

It has been predicted that Max could win this race. He's just really good on this track. It seems like Red Bull are really doing their best for the rest of the season. It's just that Kimi might be able to lock the WDC this season at the Austin GP if he's able to win it. Because right now he's ahead by 102 points over George Russell. But if not, then it might go on to the Mexico GP. However, sooner or later, he has a big chance to secure the title and become the youngest world champion in F1 history.

As for the WCC, the competition might still be on, since Ferrari's position still allows them to keep up with Mercedes for the rest of the season. So if Ferrari wants to lock the WCC, then Charles and Hamilton need to perform at their best. However, it is definitely much more challenging, especially with their extraordinary strategy.

2026 FORMULA 1 DRIVERS' WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Pos    Driver    Nat.   Team    Wins    Points
1   Andrea Kimi Antonelli   ITA   Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team   8   340
2   George Russell   GBR   Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team   3   238
3   Lewis Hamilton   GBR   Scuderia Ferrari HP   1   229
4   Max Verstappen   NED   Oracle Red Bull Racing   2   221
5   Charles Leclerc   MON   Scuderia Ferrari HP   1   215
6   Lando Norris   GBR   McLaren Mastercard F1 Team   2   201
7   Oscar Piastri    AUS   McLaren Mastercard F1 Team   0   138
8   Isack Hadjar   FRA   Oracle Red Bull Racing   0   97
9   Liam Lawson   NZL   Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team   0   75
10   Pierre Gasly   FRA   BWT Alpine F1 Team   0   41

I think Mercedes is gonna get their groove back and get both the drivers and the constructors championships and they'll do it again next year unless one of these guys could build a power unit that could rival Mercedes' power unit.

But who knows...  Maybe Red Bull's partnership with Ford could do it or maybe Honda improves next year..?  I keep saying I can't wait for the next season but then I get bored when it comes. 

[retreat]

Regulatory changes always add excitement to F1 because they create an environment more open to surprises. However, this year’s cars and rules are more frustrating than exciting. The teams aren’t happy, the drivers aren’t happy, and the fans aren’t happy. F1 management will, of course, make the necessary adjustments over time, but the frustrating part is that nearly an entire season is being wasted in the process. Moreover, the issues aren’t just those stemming from the adjustment period there are a host of problems that directly affect the enjoyment of the races we’re watching.

What can be done about this? It's not like regulations can be set by all the fans however they want. It will favor the parties who have interests in this matter. We as fans can only protest and enjoy this boring season, but even so, I still see that F1 is a sport that is loved by many people despite the controversies and its agenda leaning more towards "money and entertainment" rather than actual racing. We can only hope that in the upcoming seasons, the regulations will get better, and they get rid of that stupid electric stuff and bring back the V8 and the F1 sound that we used to know.

I think Mercedes is gonna get their groove back and get both the drivers and the constructors championships and they'll do it again next year unless one of these guys could build a power unit that could rival Mercedes' power unit.

But who knows...  Maybe Red Bull's partnership with Ford could do it or maybe Honda improves next year..?  I keep saying I can't wait for the next season but then I get bored when it comes. 

Yeah, Mercedes is pretty dominant in this electric regulation and they'll most likely get both WDC and WCC with the points they have. But next season, with the 58:42 ratio regulation, I see that RBPT could be the team that benefits here because they’re usually quite strong in ICE. With the regulation shifting more towards ICE, it could work in their favor. As for Honda, I even forgot they're still in F1, apparently. They’ve been so focused on their 'Aston Martin' championship.

[püsür]

It was such a boring Grand Prix that I fell asleep whilst watching it. I almost only woke up at the end of the race. Jokes aside, Max has fully deserved to win for the last two weeks. I really wish Red Bull could have given him this car at the start of the season so we could have seen a bit of a contest. It’s clear that Ferrari’s strategy was poor. Actually, the pit crew were good, but Hamilton himself didn’t want it. What really did Lewis in was having to pit before the drivers on soft tyres, despite starting on medium tyres. But it’s crystal clear that this team and crew can never, ever win the championship. They demonstrated once again in this race why they can’t.

[tokeweed]

Yeah, Mercedes is pretty dominant in this electric regulation and they'll most likely get both WDC and WCC with the points they have. But next season, with the 58:42 ratio regulation, I see that RBPT could be the team that benefits here because they’re usually quite strong in ICE. With the regulation shifting more towards ICE, it could work in their favor. As for Honda, I even forgot they're still in F1, apparently. They’ve been so focused on their 'Aston Martin' championship.

You're more updated on what's going on than me...  Will look into 58:42 and ICE if I'm not lazy then post what I think.

But dunno...  If '58:42' isn't a really huge regulation chance I don't think it will affect Mercedes much.  I mean it could narrow the gap between Mercedes, Red Bull Power Trains,  Ferrari and Honda but Mercedes would still dominate. 

I guess Hamilton didn't make a good decision by going to Ferrari after all.  Such a disappointment.

[LTU_btc]

Few days ago it was announced that F1 will return to Africa for the first time since 1993. They're going to race in Rwanda in early 2030s, though, not clear when exactly:
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/formula-1-returns-to-africa-with-10-year-agreement-to-race-in-rwanda.13xs9VMK7cGFiBd2IplyES
I'm still not 100% certain about this project. They will have to build completely new track from scratch, and do they really have enoughfundsfor whole this project. I hope it's not going to be similar scenario like Vietnam GP.
From visual I like how track might to look, but please don't replace one of iconic European tracks with it.