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There doesn't seem to be much being said about the Ferrari engine for next year.
My guess is that they'll be like Merc - unlikely to drop the ball like they did last time, safe bet to be competitive, wouldn't be surprised if they were the best. Merc and Ferrari have had stable engine programs, excellent resources, and loads of money. Honda basically shut down their program, then had to start again after transferring all the engineers to other things, Red Bull haven't developed an engine of their own, and Audi are starting completely from scratch. Merc and Ferrari have to be the safe bets on the engine front.
On that basis McLaren and Merc look like the favourites, while RBPT seems to be considered an outside bet.
And completely disregards whether Newey has had a lightbulb moment and the Aston will have some USP that will make it a rocketship.
Or Alpine. Or even Haas.
For sure, anything could happen. Alpine will have Mercedes power. Aston have Newey. Ferrari will benefit from lass ground effect dependency just as Merc will. Teams like Williams at the bottom of the table will have had a wind tunnel advantage: not just a lot more hours, but also arguably less to lose in using less of it for the 2025 car. It’s all up in the air but I think it’s fair to say that Red Bull inspire less confidence than the other three top teams.
Well, almost anything could happen. Haas won’t come out on top. A lot of things have to go a long way off course for a lot of people for that to happen.
I’m hoping that Williams catapult themselves up the table, and that’s far from impossible. I’m also hoping to see Hamilton in a car capable of regularly winning. Beyond those partisan thoughts, bring it on, it should be fun to watch. But there’s always a nagging apprehension that with a rule change one team ends up dominating for a couple of years. 2009 was the exception that proved the rule, because Brawn had no money for development so everyone caught up, but generally we’ve tended to see three or four titles on the bounce after a big shake-up. Which I don’t mind if the dominant team has two drivers who can and will fight: the 2014-16 seasons were packed with good racing at the sharp end.
...and no-one is mentioning Audi!
They may smash it with their new engine. 😀
They've certainly made strong progress with Jonathan Wheatley in charge.
But the point in the context of Verstappen is that Merc are rumoured to have the edge when it comes to the PU,
Mercedes had an advantage with their engine because they managed to maintain a higher compression ratio [than other engines] with very clever fuel management that included (but wasn't only about) variable intakes. For 2026, the engine management system is a fixed black box, the compression ratio is regulated [lower] and variable intakes are banned. For 2026 while things like the angle of the V, the stroke and bore are nominally the same, they are all brand new engines, none of the components that Merc currently use are transferable to the new cars.
I think Mercedes are going to be bitten again by these new regs. When the engines changed to the V6 hybrid, Mercedes won everything because it turned out their engine was a monster. I think that they realised that they only had to be there or thereabouts when it came to aero, because they didn't really need to think that hard, come the 2021 changes that came to bite them on the behind when they realised that they didn't have the capacity to understand what was happening like Newey did. I think Mercedes are hoping that they can build another monster, time will tell if they have or not
Adrian Newey was always very critical of the success of the Mercedes team essentially complaining that 'all' they did was have a more powerful engine. For next year that playing field is being levelled, Max must be desperate if he's jumping ship now, and not waiting for next year to see where the dice fall and organising a move for 2027, or maybe his convo's with Toto are about that, who knows?
...and no-one is mentioning Audi! Cadillac!
Got to be worth a tenner at the bookies 🤷
it’s that downforce is generated by more easily modelled means.
Mercedes have had 4 years to model the current aero, and they still don't understand why their car performs the way it does. In 2024 it abandoned a concept that they couldn't get to work well enough after 2 years, changed their design completely, and still didn't win anything and was routinely being thrashed by a customer team and ended up being fourth best. the new regs in the wind tunnel (especially the new rear wing) led to really over-sensitive front ends, and that's why they introduced the movable front wing, these are massively complex aero concepts, Mercedes have demonstrated (at the very least) that they're just not the best team when it comes to this.
In 2024 it abandoned a concept that they couldn't get to work well enough after 2 years, changed their design completely, and still didn't win anything and was routinely being thrashed by a customer team and ended up being fourth best.
Well they gave up chasing what, in the models, was the faster design theory as it was too sensitive to other factors.
They were beaten by a customer team because the latter had a 2 year jump on them in the design process.
Anyway, here's a possibility: Max stays at RB for 2026, Hamilton retires at the end of '26 allowing Max to go to Merc and Woody to go to Ferrari.
(Sorry if someone has already suggested that)
If some of you think Mercedes lack technical nouse - why did Horner have a hotline to the FIA to complain about the latest thing they came up with!? 🤣
Too high safety risk, Nick.
Today's useless stat:
Before The Impodiumable Hulk broke his duck at round twelve of the season the oldest person to stand on a podium in a Grand Prix this year was.............. Max Verstappen
Hamilton's race will be a glorified testing session, Ferrari certainly seemed to screw him over.
The BBC are still banging on about the Horner sacking, with Benson saying "I know things that I can't repeat." Really meaning "I know as much as you do"
Ferrari certainly seemed to screw him over.
He exceeded track limits and was excluded. That's on him, not the team. The car was good enough for 3rd on the grid.
It's a wee bit wet in the forest today
Hamilton, Alonso, and Antonelli have taken new power units. That might come back to bite them in the arse if the race doesn't start (which I assume will mean they take their penalties at the next race.)
The race will start.
Even if it's behind a safety car.
The race will start.
Even if it's behind a safety car.
Let's hope it's not like 2021 - another poor decision by Masi which added to the Abu Dhabi drama.
Sainz has also taken a new power unit. Starting from pitlane means those four can change the setup on their cars to suit the conditions.
It also means avoiding any first corner carnage
There was suspense till the end. Pretty much all you can expect from sports.
Starting from pitlane means those four can change the setup on their cars to suit the conditions.
Apparently changing the rear wing is a big deal involving quite a bit of work requiring more time than was available once it started raining.
So chances are they were all on their qualifying setup.
Hamilton‘s race will be a glorified test session - it went quite well didn’t it 😉😂
Controversial view but Spa needs changes IMHO to remain in F1. 2 very dull races over this weekend where been second on the grid was the place to be. It's a great historic track but if the race director won't allow the weather to play its part then the race generally ends up pretty boring.
Apparently changing the rear wing is a big deal involving quite a bit of work requiring more time than was available once it started raining.
Hamilton switched to a higher downforce setup, that's why he passed a bunch of cars early on but couldn't get past Albon when the track was drier.
Controversial view but Spa needs changes IMHO to remain in F1
Unless it's wet; Spa has always been a dull race.
Interesting the number of mistakes Lando made chasing Piastri compared to the mistakes P made while being chased.
I feel that Lando is possibly the quicker driver but that Piastri is the better racer. Both are pretty good at both to be fair. Can Lando get better and not making mistakes quicker that Piastri can push that little bit faster for the laps that count? I suspect this will be the theme for the rest of this season, and possibly beyond.
Lewis was having to lift and coast for most of the race - social medial reports suggest he was underfuelled for what essentially became a dry race (with Ferrari anticipating a wet race). So with a bit more fuel and a bit more right foot 5th was potentially on.
Lewis was having to lift and coast for most of the race - social medial reports suggest he was underfuelled for what essentially became a dry race (with Ferrari anticipating a wet race). So with a bit more fuel and a bit more right foot 5th was potentially on.
Yeah wouldn't be surprised. Also the Williams seemed to be quite trimmed out, was always going to be tough to get past that once the tyres Lewis' tyres had started going off. Brilliant drive though.
I don’t understand why the start was delayed. Surely if it was that wet the grid should have been on wets not inters. I’m being to wonder why they bother making them
wonder why they bother making them
From what I have heard, the drivers wonder this as well
I don’t understand why the start was delayed. Surely if it was that wet the grid should have been on wets not inters. I’m being to wonder why they bother making them
The issue isn’t the (lack of) standing water on the track - if it was then using wets would be compulsory. The issue is where the water goes that the tyres (and the rest of the car) lift off the surface. And visibility is drastically reduced or disappears altogether.
Put that together with several fatalities that have happened at Spa in recent years, and bear in mind the potential legal consequences for the organisers of it goes wrong, then nobody with common sense could blame them for being a bit cautious.
Everyone that is moaning online that they should just get on with it don’t have any responsibility for anyone’s safety, and don’t have any consequences (legal/criminal?) if it goes wrong. I’m sure it’s very different if it’s your neck on the line.
The reason they rarely use extreme wets these days is because the cars have such extreme aerodynamics. Once there’s enough water to warrant the full wets, the spray has already gone way into dangerous territory, because the ground effect cars lift a huge amount more water through the Venturi effect of the floor. Given those factors, Spa is the most dangerous track on the calendar because of Eau Rouge and Raidillon: there’s so much downforce on tap that they’re still barely a lift in the wet, but there’s a relatively high chance of losing grip, especially on the first lap or if the track is getting wetter—and if that happens it’s a big one, with the cherry on the cake being that there’s also a good chance of ending up in the track with cars approaching at knocking on 200mph with zero visibility. And then you’ve got Antoine Hubert’s mother watching the race from the pits.
It would have been great to see Verstappen and Hamilton exploiting their setups for longer before the track dried out, but I think it’s pretty naive to criticise race control for being a little conservative on this specific occasion. If the whole of the circuit was like sector two then things might have been different, but sector one is a uniquely dangerous stretch of race track.
Spa aside, fundamentally it’s a problem that won’t go away while the formula has ground effect, and probably won’t go away at all in any heavily aero-dependent formula.
but I think it’s pretty naive to criticise race control for being a little conservative on this specific occasion.
Plus the F3 race was red-flagged twice as they crashed into each behind the safety car. I think they made the right decision
It's pointless asking the drivers about the conditions because anyone that's gambled on a dryer setup will always be crying on the radio "conditions are too wet, visibility is bad, it's too dangerous" and anyone taking a full wet setup will say "it's perfect, let's race".
Having watched back through the coverage, I think they were a little overly cautious. We lost probably 20/30/40 minutes of good inters condition racing there. Mandate the full wets and send them out behind the SC to clear the standing water, then let them race.
Plus the F3 race was red-flagged twice as they crashed into each behind the safety car. I think they made the right decision
Yeah but the F2 did race in similar conditions to the F1 race, probably worse (and I'm glad they did because it was brilliant, go and check out Alex Dunn's move in Pouhon if you haven't seen it)
It's silly to criticize with hindsight - I think the race director was right to be conservative about the start, there's a good chance of a huge multi-car accident if things go wrong.
Verstappen and Hamilton both wanted to start earlier, when the track was wetter. They both had cars set up with more downforce for wetter conditions. Other drivers who had lower downforce setups seemed to think it was better to have waited. Teams and drivers will always argue for whatever suits them in the moment, then they'll turn around and argue for exactly the opposite when that suits them.
It's silly to criticize with hindsight - I think the race director was right to be conservative about the start, there's a good chance of a huge multi-car accident if things go wrong.
Verstappen and Hamilton both wanted to start earlier, when the track was wetter. They both had cars set up with more downforce for wetter conditions. Other drivers who had lower downforce setups seemed to think it was better to have waited. Teams and drivers will always argue for whatever suits them in the moment, then they'll turn around and argue for exactly the opposite when that suits them.
THis is where if they are going to do this I think teams should be allowed to change the set up of the car. If you set the car up on the assumption that ovet half the race was goign to be under wet conditions on inters and then race control say oh perhaps not, lets wait for the weather to get better then you are no longer having a fair race. All that will happen is that everyone will turn up on the start line with a dry set up and assume race control will give into them wanting to race with the wrong set up.
Tricky to allow setup changes - are they going to guarantee enough of a delay to change a rear wing, as well as suspension setup etc.
All the cars at the front had to choose their setup on Saturday based on their best guess about the weather. There was zero guarantee about the weather. McLaren got it right, Red Bull didn't. Wet weekends are always like that - some teams get lucky, others get unlucky.
At the back, four cars chose to start from pit lane so they could take a new power unit and make setup changes overnight. I think they were allowed to do that right up to the warmup lap, but nobody is going to tear the car apart to do anything major just before the race starts.
A timely article!...
https://www.planetf1.com/features/why-formula-1-must-abolish-out-dated-parc-ferme-rules
Doing away with parc ferme would ensure that there were always 20 cars on the grid (which I don't personally care about), but it wouldn't have made any difference to teams who went for a wet weather setup being caught out. Ferrari chose that for Hamilton on Saturday and could have changed it on Sunday morning, but didn't. They wouldn't have had time to change it once they learned that the start was delayed, it was locked in on Saturday night.
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THis is where if they are going to do this I think teams should be allowed to change the set up of the car. If you set the car up on the assumption that ovet half the race was goign to be under wet conditions on inters and then race control say oh perhaps not, lets wait for the weather to get better then you are no longer having a fair race. All that will happen is that everyone will turn up on the start line with a dry set up and assume race control will give into them wanting to race with the wrong set up.
So then you’ll get 20 cars with the same setup and hardly able to pass each other.
Not allowing changes adds to the jeapordy. All teams have the same info and can decide what they want to do. It’s part of the game!
For Spa specifically, would it not be beneficial to have a "wet weather only" chicane in place at Eau Rouge?
So, at race controls discretion, they could change the circuit layout to use/stop using the "chicane layout" and revert to the full Eau Rouge experience when the track is "dry enough".
I'm musing that switching layouts would prevent huge crashes in low visibility in Eau Rouge but when the visibility improves, we get the full fat experience...
Rather than ask a brave marshall to run on track during the race with a couple of orange cones, theyd have to install some lights/arrows to point out which part of the circuit to use at switchover point. And, yeah, inevitably some driver is likely to get screwed when they are forced to use the chicane by virtue of their position in track at switchover point versus the car following or just in front of them but that's no worse than the safety car being deployed just after you've passed the pit entry.
BTW, I've patented this idea so don't try to claim my genius idea 😄
I see Fred Vasseur is now confirmed as having a contract extension to stay at Ferrari and it seems Max won't be able to trigger his escape clause from RB even if he wanted to. Looks like this year's mid season break is going to be a bit quiet after all - unless we get leaks from RB about why they axed Horner.
Yep, confirmed!
Edit: doh! Half wrote this before a work call, hit “post” after it, clearly should have updated the page in the meantime 😂
Good to see that Ferrari are trying to prevent people rocking the boat
For Spa specifically, would it not be beneficial to have a "wet weather only" chicane in place at Eau Rouge?
....... No!
🫣
A timely article!...
I don't understand the point they're trying to make in that article at all. Seems to have real been in their bonnet about a full grid, which I can't say has ever excised me at the start of a GP ever, and wants poor qualifying to be punished...which starting in the pit does, and wants to be able to make set up changes...which they can do, but again start from the pit lane (which, again is a disadvantage)
Weird. Have I missed something? (entirely possible)
I don't understand the point they're trying to make in that article at all. Seems to have real been in their bonnet about a full grid, which I can't say has ever excised me at the start of a GP ever, and wants poor qualifying to be punished...which starting in the pit does, and wants to be able to make set up changes...which they can do, but again start from the pit lane (which, again is a disadvantage)
Weird. Have I missed something? (entirely possible)
They lost me when they used “myriad” as a noun instead of an adjective.
I think there’s a viable argument for making front and rear wing changes without a pit lane start, though equally you could argue against. Otherwise I think it’s fine as it is.
I think it boils down to...
• It was bought in to save costs - to stop qualifying cars and engines.
• The cost cap does that now.
• If it was scrapped it would open up more strategy options.
I must admit I don't like it when you know a driver is guaranteed a shit race because of a set-up error before qualifying.
Set-up changes should be allowed, but not big items like engine and gearbox.
Joe Saward mentioned this article in his blog. Pretty brutal report on Flav's history of dodgy shit.
https://unlimitedhangout.com/2025/07/investigative-series/first-friends-part1/
Thomas Maher (planet f1 journo) reporting Max confirmed at Red Bull
How long before they become a Honda works team?…
https://www.planetf1.com/news/aston-martin-valued-at-2-4-billion-as-car-company-sells-out-of-f1
…Aston back to being a badging exercise.
Doesnt Lawrence own them both?
I'm sure its just a business/tax/funding issue rather than anything more.
Max's escape clause is only triggered if he is outside the top three by the summer break. All that Russell had to do to keep his seat was not be ahead of Max by that point.
I'm kinda gutted in a way, because I was looking forward to seeing what he could do away from the RBR stable.
Who do we think is most relieved to hear that Max will stay at RB - Laurent Mekies, George Russell or Issac Hadjar?
.
Also, what is Stroll doing in P4 in FP2? You can never tell with him, whether he's going to embarrass everyone else or himself
I’m not sure Hadjar would be have any reason to be disappointed if Max were to leave. A seat alongside Yuki is not the poisoned chalice that is a seat alongside Max.
So... Thoughts on Lewis' comments post qualifying? Sounds like a broken man.
So much of driving a car fast is about confidence and self-belief and he seems to have lost his mojo (especially as Charles managed to put his car on pole)
Yeah, Hamilton just seems lost at Ferrari, he'd had a dip at Mercedes, not sure how much of it is due to the ground effect era. But it's the same for all the drivers.
It’s not even just the low itself, it’s also an astonishing swing from him saying recently how determined he was not to leave Ferrari without a title, like Alonso and Vettel did.
It seems that, just as Red Bull chews up and spits out rookies, Ferrari chews up and spits out champions.
He’ll get over it, I’m sure: he wasn’t that far off Leclerc in Q2 and no-one seems able to explain how Leclerc ended up top in Q3—so a lot of this is just small differences creating a perfect storm. But from what I recall seeing, Hamilton did look to be fighting mid turn oversteer quite a lot, so that clearly seems to be a thing he’s still not getting on top of.
To put things into context it was the closest top 10 qualifying for 64 years. So even ‘useless’ Lewis was only a few tenths off a decent grid position.
Having said that do you think we’ll see him after the summer break? He did say there would be a lot of tears.
Pretty sure he'll be back after the summer break.
If he's put in front of the press and gets asked "Charles is on pole, and you're 12th, where did it go wrong?" Being chipper and upbeat would be a struggle. Fred will be massaging his ego straight after the press duties.
Hamilton has always been a bit emotional in the heat of the moment. At Merc he'd often sound like a whiny brat on the radio. Then he'd cool off after the race and everything would go back to normal. After the summer break, all the teams will be focusing on the new regs for next year. I'm pretty sure Hamilton will want to stick around long enough to see if Ferrari have a competitive car or not.
Lovely win by Lando there, way more exciting than a Hungary GP deserves to be, really nail biting stuff. Loved it!
Yep, fair play to Lando for coming back for the win. Expected Piastri to breeze past him with the tyre advantage, so pleased Lando held on to it.
So, what do we make of this intriguing remark?
Pushed on whether he is finding it difficult to pick himself up, and whether he could help viewers understand his remarks, Hamilton said: “Not particularly. When you have a feeling, you have a feeling. There’s a lot going on in the background that is not great.”
Wonder if he's talking about within Ferrari or in his personal life
Wonder if he's talking about within Ferrari or in his personal life
Within the team I'd say.
I'd put my money on him not being made welcome by some elements within Ferrari. He'll have ruffled a few feathers and my guess is people are digging their heels in and refusing to change their way of working. They'll see him as a temporary hire that got another latin driver the sack.
The grand arrival and Lewis being off the pace won't be helping his cause.
Yeah good race.
George Russell is such a knob.
What did he do?
All I saw of him was a bit of moaning about Leclerc moving under braking which was valid, and talking about Ferrari running a marginal ride height on Charles car which also looks like it was correct.
Speaking of which, I reckon Hamilton will be less bummed out when he hears about that. Charles would have had a lot more downforce yet Lewis was only two or three tenths off him in Q2. Okay so it was a very costly couple of tenths but still, not as bad as it looked.
The "things going on in the background" comment was intriguing though. Wonder if somebody told him to wind his neck in with the documents he's been giving out or something like that.
Millionaire F1 driver being a whiny ****. I'm shocked. SHOCKED!!!
Yeah good race.
George Russell is such a knob.What did he do?
He's always super quick to get on the radio to try and get other drivers penalised. I don't like it when any driver does it, but he seems to do it more.....even Leclerc has commented on it... “But I can imagine George being quite vocal on the radio, it’s normally the case.”
Yeah good race.
George Russell is such a knob.What did he do?
He's always super quick to get on the radio to try and get other drivers penalised. I don't like it when any driver does it, but he seems to do it more.....even Leclerc has commented on it... “But I can imagine George being quite vocal on the radio, it’s normally the case.”
Sure, he can sound a bit whiney on the radio but he's no worse than most of the other drivers. We may not get all the radio broadcasts but you can guarantee that Max is on the radio pdq if he spots even the slightest possible misdemeanour or rule stretch. Like I said, George will often sound a bit whiney about it but they're all commenting on stuff throughout the race.
Yeah good race.
George Russell is such a knob.What did he do?
He's always super quick to get on the radio to try and get other drivers penalised. I don't like it when any driver does it, but he seems to do it more.....even Leclerc has commented on it... “But I can imagine George being quite vocal on the radio, it’s normally the case.”
I'd rather they didn't have a radio at all TBH, but anyway don't pay too much attention to this comment from Leclerc, he's deflecting because George correctly called him out for moving in the braking zone resulting in him getting a penalty.
The whining over the radio is analogous to footballers throwing themselves on the floor at the slightest bit of contact.
It is done to get the attention of the officials and maybe the opponents get penalised.
Russell does do it in a particularly 'whiny school kid' type way, but I find it quite funny. Especially when he throws in a Bliiiimey. Or a Criiiiikey. Or is that just LollipopmanF1 over-egging it a bit? 😁
Not sure how I feel about the Hamilton situation. He clearly doesn't get on with this type of car. And he clearly doesn't get on with the Ferrari. I don't think he is as far from Leclerc's performance (hmmm, is it Leclerc, or LeClerc?! Never paid much attention) as he thinks/feels he is.
I feel sympathy for him, but then at the end of the day he's being paid multi-millions of pounds to jet around the world and drive the most advanced racing cars there are. He is not at home weeding the front drive, or having to find the motivation to install the skirting board that really should have been done months ago. As such, my sympathy only goes so far. 😄
I don't know if it's the Ferrari specifically, I think it's the ground effect cars in general, he's not looked confident for a few years. We saw a similar drop off with Vettel at the end of the blown diffuser era, different types of cars suit different drivers. I think Riccardo might have been another top drive to struggle with ground effects, Check too probably.
Lewis is almost certainly hanging on to see what the 2026 cars are like and if they suit him, he'll definitely do 2026 IMO, and if he's competitive stay on for a couple more years, if not he'll probably retire at the end of next year, no chance of him going this year
I don't think Russell was whining. The move to the inside by Leclerc to cut him off was pretty poor and the Effayeay agreed.
Not sure what to make of Lewis, I think its clear he's lost an edge in qualifying. That was evident last year vs Russell too. Its hard to say where qualifying pace ranks in Hamilton's skill set. He has the most poles of any driver so its something that has been a strength throughout his career, but against "Mr Saturday" and his current team mate, who is lauded for his one lap pace he has struggled. But they are both 27 vs Hamilton's 40 years, which surely has to also be a factor?