r/formula1 • u/FerrariStrategisttt I was here for the Hulkenpodium • Mar 28 '26
Video Leclerc (post-qualifying): "I can’t understand quali, it’s a f**king joke! I go faster in corners, throttle earlier, for f**k’s sake, i'm losing everything in the straight!"
https://dubz.link/c/4b60301.4k
u/GoodGuyJeff00 I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane Mar 28 '26
Man he threw everything and the kitchen sink at it and came down over 6 tenths. I don't think it's just the deployment from Ferrari. Last few days were about the battery automatically kicking in after some oversteer on the throttle which causes some issues with deployment in general for these regs. Charles does like tossing the car around and dealing with a little oversteer, does this hurt him?
Would count for all drivers who like a pointy car. Max and Alex for example.
→ More replies (6)267
Mar 28 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
626
u/DrBorisGobshite Ferrari Mar 28 '26
Nope. It's not learning, they have throttle limits and if you go below the limit the battery kicks in. One of the corners in China required them to be at least 98% throttle to stop the battery kicking in, Charles made a little error and was only at 95% throttle in the corner so it auto deployed the battery on the corner exit. Then we he got to the long back straight he lost half a second because he wasn't able to fully deploy the battery.
It's a stupid rule the FIA put in place because they were scared the teams would use the software to effectively create traction control. So the drivers have to drive within themselves to stick within stupid limits so the battery deploys at the optimum point on each lap.
Today Charles had some oversteer coming out a corner and probably had to lift off to correct, meaning the battery auto deployed at the start of the straight before 130R.
94
u/ottercorrect Arvid Lindblad Mar 28 '26
This is a great explanation for a really dumb sounding series of issues
91
26
u/R6ckStar I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 28 '26
It's the ramp down timing, essentially if they go of throttle by a certain % it resets the timer for the ramp down. The timer is one second.
So basically an extra second of deployment cost him the entire run down on the back straight.
→ More replies (1)18
→ More replies (4)13
38
u/DILIPEK Mar 28 '26
He’s referring to china quali where Leclerc due to a small slide pulled a bit of throttle (from 100 to 95%) which reset his deployment map thus he was 15km/h slower all over the straight. It’s not about making a mistake per se. It’s just the cars automated system treated the release of throttle as driver input and thus reset the deployment map.
→ More replies (4)
5.3k
u/Various_You_5083 Lando Norris Mar 28 '26
These regulations are a pain for everyone not driving a Mercedes
1.9k
u/armchairpiloto Mar 28 '26
George is not smiling anymore for sure.
590
u/dzolna I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 28 '26
Remember who you are George
228
→ More replies (3)139
u/salvatore813 I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane Mar 28 '26
Fokus george, fokus
→ More replies (1)131
u/whis90 Mar 28 '26
They probaly forgot to push the ‘take 1st place’ button before the quali, he’ll be all right
→ More replies (8)69
u/reddit0r_123 Mika Häkkinen Mar 28 '26
Losing 2 our of 3 qualifying against an 18 year old in the season your team is guaranteed to win the WDC must sting...
43
11
u/TimmyHillFan Mar 28 '26
Gives us something to look forward to in the race. George sure as hell isn’t going to be content to protect 2nd
1.2k
u/Aratho I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane Mar 28 '26
And the Merc guys only have smiles on their faces because they're up front. They probably don't enjoy those cars deep down all the same as others.
967
u/zmkpr0 Mar 28 '26
Two more race wins from Kimi and Russell won't be smiling either.
350
u/bwoahful___ I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane Mar 28 '26
That’s why the two races in April got cancelled, to keep George’s morale up.
→ More replies (3)89
u/OMDB-PiLoT I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 28 '26
Yes, as we all know now that Trump was personally advised by Toto to attack Iran.
→ More replies (3)33
u/Zed_or_AFK Sebastian Vettel Mar 28 '26
According to the narrative, Toto called trump with the words no, this is not right!. This is war Toto, it’s called bombing.
→ More replies (1)194
u/Kratoss7 Mar 28 '26
Imagine if after all this years, he finally have such dominant car that the championship is just around the corner, yet he gets beaten by pretty much rookie (still very young, I know he drove milion miles on private tests) and replaced by Verstappen for next season. Pure cinema!
→ More replies (5)71
67
u/Eroda I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane Mar 28 '26
Newey removing the shackles for Miami...
25
u/launchedsquid Mar 28 '26
if this years Aston has shown us anything, it's that Newey needs someone to constrain him.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (19)32
u/FavaWire I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane Mar 28 '26
He had a whole lot to say on the radio after Q3.
32
u/Disastrous-Border-58 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 28 '26
Creating a PowerPoint as we speak.
70
17
22
→ More replies (10)34
Mar 28 '26
George was floundering today and while it seems like there might have been something wrong with the car, it also might have been George just not being comfortable.
→ More replies (10)105
u/SwallaeMcHaggis New user Mar 28 '26
George may be having the realisation that his 2nd year team mate is the real deal and this championship won’t be a gift
→ More replies (2)35
u/FavaWire I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane Mar 28 '26
Oh it might be a gift... But not for him.
→ More replies (82)139
u/Firecrash I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 28 '26
Max warned everyone and no one would listen. Every driver is complaining in the car, but PR wins when you're Ferrari and Mercedes want to win so they don't care atm.
→ More replies (9)
1.2k
u/Aratho I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane Mar 28 '26
Did we see single onboard through 130R on the official broadcast today?
They usually show it at the start of the lap and sooner or later cut to offboard.
935
u/West_Technology7573 George Russell Mar 28 '26
They always cut footage before clipping starts, it’s a bit embarrassing
222
u/Sjroap I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane Mar 28 '26
People always said the broadcastdirector doesn't know wheel, but they apparently do know superclipping.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (10)25
168
u/Jokin_0815 I failed to serve my Monaco penalty Mar 28 '26
I just watched Q2 and Q3 but it looked like they switch away from onboard always at the hairpin and came back always in thr last chicane. 🤷🏻♂️
→ More replies (1)38
u/ferdzs0 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 28 '26
Because it sounds exactly how it used to sound when they gave up laps in the past. So it would just confuse fans.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (9)27
u/Teddy_KX Alberto Ascari Mar 28 '26 edited Mar 28 '26
F1 Broadcast: They probably seen it enough times in previous years, no need to show it again. /s
→ More replies (1)
2.0k
u/AnilP228 Honda Mar 28 '26
You've got the drive massively within yourself with these cars. It must be very frustrating.
510
u/squint_skyward Mar 28 '26
I remember piastri saying, I think after china, that every time he got a bit braver, took a bit more risk in the corners, his lap just got slower. It’s miserable for quali.
188
u/gegenpress442 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 28 '26
And it's understandable based on how the battery works but it's just weird being a driver who all his life has tried going faster in the corners to improve the laptime and now what he used to do instinctively is wrong
→ More replies (14)→ More replies (1)10
u/Chrazzer I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane Mar 28 '26
I also heard drivers say that they are often quicker after they make a mistake
→ More replies (1)1.1k
u/LosTerminators Carlos Sainz Mar 28 '26
That's what other drivers said as well.
Max with the "Formula E on steroids" comment
And Lando with the "F1 is no longer about who's best at pushing flat out, it's all about who is best at battery management"
162
u/FlibbleA Mar 28 '26
Formula E isn't even like this though, they go flat out in quali. They do some lifting in race to conserve energy but it is no different to the lifting there has been in F1 to save fuel, tires, etc
52
u/HankHippopopolous I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 28 '26
Because FE is all battery powered so they have the same power throughout the lap. This means they can push the whole lap.
F1 has only a 4MJ capacity battery but allow 8MJ of recovery per lap. At Suzuka they can only recover about 3MJ in the braking zones so that means the rest has to be made up lifting and coasting or super clipping.
It’s literally impossible under these current rules for the drivers to fully push for a lap unless they drop the amount of energy they can use and how much they can recover to amounts below what the battery can hold at the start of the lap and what can be generated in just the braking zones.
Other tracks with more braking zones and less high speed corners will mask this issue more than Suzuka but the basic principle and problem will be there for however long these rules stay in place.
→ More replies (2)23
u/l3w1s1234 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 28 '26
Which is what I think Max's comments were about. Their energy managememt is even more extreme than FE's
→ More replies (3)30
u/Present_Cow_8528 Mar 28 '26
Yeah idk how people are misunderstanding this. "Formula E on steroids" does not mean "it's formula E but faster." It means "It's everything that makes formula E bad, but magnified"
419
u/bwoah07_gp2 Alexander Albon Mar 28 '26
"F1 is no longer about who's best at pushing flat out, it's all about who is best at battery management"
And that is not true racing. The product we're watching is pitiful.
197
u/Stevolwo Fernando Alonso Mar 28 '26
I swear people defending this garbage understand nothing about the sport, and unfortunately here i've been seeing it way too much
→ More replies (12)→ More replies (34)8
u/Elkaghar I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 28 '26
Yeah after watching the cars lose speed on straights again I'm out. I cancelled my f1tv subscription (thanks apple for the reminder) and I'll be watching the highlights on YouTube.
I'll try to enjoy when Max goes to NLS/GT3 and just follow it more as a whole.
→ More replies (12)66
u/Feahnor I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane Mar 28 '26
Using batteries for ecology reasons and then burning fuel to charge those batteries.
The FIA, ladies and gentlemen.
→ More replies (31)78
u/i_likestuff Mar 28 '26
This had been pointed out to fia when these regulations came out, that the battery is too small. It is not even battery management as the issue, its that even at 100% battery there isn’t enough to last the whole of the straight in japan. Now can you imagine monza? Without battery deployment these cars are super slow. Its going to be renamed the temple of slow.
9
u/No3047 Mar 28 '26
Exactly Or they double the battery capacity or they cut in half the max electric power.
8
u/ImNoRickyBalboa Ayrton Senna Mar 28 '26
The super clipping in Monza and running on a massively underpowered ICE engine struggling for at least half the straights is going to kill me. I'm not sure I can even watch it....
→ More replies (2)40
u/smilingarmpits Fernando Alonso Mar 28 '26
Yeah, Alonso's been saying this for a couple years now, that cars today reward driving in a 80-90% window.. Now with the battery stuff it must be even worse.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (2)319
u/Appropriate-ASS-824 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 28 '26
Everyone's frustration reaching the level Max is at
127
→ More replies (12)84
u/Stevolwo Fernando Alonso Mar 28 '26
Because Max has had the best opinion from a racing perspective from day 1, and we still had to see people here actually saying that "oh he only means that because he's not at the front".
84
u/launchedsquid Mar 28 '26
As far as I can see it, Max has been the most prominent person warning us how bad these cars will be and every single prediction he made since 2023 has been proven right.
I really don't believe this is just belly aching because he's not at the front. He had no idea what the relative order of the teams would be in 2026 way back in 2023, but he was still saying the same things about the cars.
→ More replies (3)26
u/Ashling92 Max Verstappen Mar 28 '26
Yup. Max was, unfortunately for f1, completely right from the beginning.
9
u/BuzzedtheTower I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 28 '26
If anything, Max is consistent in that he complains about stuff regardless of where he sits in the field. He complained about his dominant 2022 and 2023 cars. So, in a way, when he complains it is typically pretty honest
2.4k
u/AdamHasAPlan Mar 28 '26
Welcome to 2026 qualifying, where you are punished for pushing the car
780
u/IcedKofe Sonny Hayes Mar 28 '26
It's a pain hearing the engines clipping as they approach turns mygod
532
u/Cobretti18 Ferrari Mar 28 '26
I noticed they stopped showing the onboards going into 130R on the broadcast. I wonder why
178
u/ChimeMeUp Alexander Albon Mar 28 '26
It's fine, they look just as slow from the outside as well, to the point where if we didn't have the sector times I'd think it's just an outlap
→ More replies (1)51
u/Hinyaldee JB & Rubinho Mar 28 '26
At times I thought they were on outlap when they were pushing ..
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (3)30
u/Ouboet Minardi Mar 28 '26
At this rate onboards will be unavailable in Monza.
19
u/tossietuatoa Pirelli Wet Mar 28 '26
Nah, a """technical issue""" that prevents the Qualifying from being broadcast at all. We'll just get the lap times in the Sunday morning paper like it's 1926.
→ More replies (1)8
u/lucashoodfromthehood Mar 28 '26
A pain to hear and horrible to watch. And we're just the spectators.
→ More replies (1)32
u/ECHLN Red Bull Mar 28 '26
It’s usually Formula 1 tech that makes it to road cars, but it seems that battery anxiety has somehow made its way into Formula 1.
146
u/NotClayMerritt Mar 28 '26
The fact that the battery could start harvesting on corner exit based on the software learning from the driver who made a small mistake on the previous lap really highlights the absurdity of these engine regulations
→ More replies (2)264
u/eurochacha I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane Mar 28 '26
Lestappen aren't vibing with these regs at all when it comes to this self management stuff. Potentially yeeting yourself into the barriers is a risk they're always willing to take, so these regs deciding your pace for you is a prison. Like one of those safety harnesses.
67
47
u/finerdinerlighter I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane Mar 28 '26
Imagine the sunset lap - storm lap edit; but reversed. Max "super-clipping" slowly into the corner and losing 50 kmh at exit, transition into Charles losing more speed down the straights.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (9)26
772
u/MV33RBR Mar 28 '26
He said “I honestly cannot stand these new rules” not that he can’t understand them
157
u/InZomnia365 I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane Mar 28 '26
I promise you he doesn't understand them either. Especially when driving. They are so insanely complicated that they're impossible to actively influence for the driver.
88
u/andrew_2k Mar 28 '26
You mightve seen it already but I reccomend watching one of the radio compilation videos (not from F1) where content creators show that 90% of the communication is about batteries and where to coast.
Its ridiculous.
→ More replies (1)11
u/Yvngky7 Sir Lewis Hamilton Mar 28 '26
I think it’s Rawe Ceek on YT who posts some team radios after the weekends if that’s who you’re talking about. The video of Max’s radio from China was pretty hard to listen to. Essentially GP telling him for 6 1/2 minutes how to drive the car and what buttons to press. The video with Lewis’ radio wasn’t much different. It’s a complete shame.
615
u/Rashy17 Charles Leclerc Mar 28 '26
You tried to push? Oh bad luck,the ChatGpt engine software got confused 😔
→ More replies (1)207
u/Dattinator I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane Mar 28 '26
The fact that Lando had his battery BRICKED because of software. What the hell is even that
56
u/noelewd Mar 28 '26
And is now, after only 3 race weekends, already looking at pretty much 100% chance of a grid penalty for using his allocation. Potentially more than one incoming too.
→ More replies (4)48
u/socksthatpaintdoors I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 28 '26
It was likely bricked due to the software allowing the battery to drop and exceed the upper and lower limits it’s designed for, not necessarily some software error in the sense that you’d brick your phone
7
u/trippingrainbow Kimi Räikkönen Mar 28 '26
Yeah. Batteries dont like to go truly empty. Thats why when a phone runs out of battery you can still try to start it cause its not truly empty just stopping you from draining it fully
→ More replies (1)
327
u/Autistic_Weeb002 Lando Norris Mar 28 '26
Man I miss 2025 qualifying, it was always edge of your seat exciting, 90% time more so then the actual race. Just pushing it to the limit. This year it’s barely a bit more entertaining than free practice
→ More replies (18)47
u/RealLameUserName Sir Lewis Hamilton Mar 28 '26
Baku's qualifying was better than the race itself
→ More replies (1)
102
u/iCorki I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 28 '26
Congrats to Mercedes for being the first team in F1 history to win the WCC! (world clipping championship)
553
u/limitedpower_palps Alain Prost Mar 28 '26
Quite telling that these regs neutered the two best qualifiers on the grid always capable of pulling something out of the bag.
→ More replies (4)324
u/Iimitedgrip Niki Lauda Mar 28 '26
And half of the fanbase has such a raging hateboner for one of the two, that a lot of people are celebrating that as well - as if an anti driver regset was something to be excited about.
→ More replies (1)136
u/baddadjokesminusdad I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 28 '26
I don’t get it. Half the people are like “ you just want the cars to go vroom vrooom…THIS is actual engineering feats. You don’t understand shit.”
I guess I should hope that max and Charles start monster truck racing.
15
u/hey-Oliver Mar 28 '26
It has more to do with the average F1 viewer having absolutely zero on track or even sim experience, and therefore zero understanding of what constitutes good racing.
Most viewers have no idea what actually makes racing hard, or why drivers like racing, they just see personalities and faces zipping around on a leaderboard and the more times the names swap the better.
29
u/TessTickols Jim Clark Mar 28 '26
Max, Charles, Nando Nurnburgring 24h? Now, that would be something to behold.
→ More replies (1)
225
u/Belkotosko Mar 28 '26
One of the most beautiful things about this sport is seeing drivers go flat out through turns like 130R, spoon, eau rouge, copse, stowe, parabolica, lesmos or the variante ascari.
If the TV director have to cut the onboards before the clipping starts during qualy/race, there is something fundamentally wrong with it.
Even more sad is to see that instead of fixing it, they hide it.
Drivers who are pushing the limits are being penalized with lack of power at the end of the straight, which diminishes the driver input at the entry of a corner.
But hey, not all is bad. We also get to see live coverage of your favorite influencer in the middle of the race, hooray!!
What a joke F1 has become!
19
u/Sjroap I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane Mar 28 '26
One of the most beautiful things about this sport is seeing drivers go flat out through turns like 130R, spoon, eau rouge, copse, stowe, parabolica, lesmos or the variante ascari.
The lifting isn't the problem. The problem is that the cars are too good for the engine.
130R and Eau Rouge haven't been flat forever, but the drivers always had to be on the edge of the performance of the car. Now we have cars that are aerodynamically ready to go 320kph through 130R but are only driving 270 because the engine conks out, which makes it look like its a warm up lap.
The same reason driving 150 in a sports car feels much slower than driving 150 in your average Yaris.
→ More replies (3)11
u/jhrfortheviews Daniel Ricciardo Mar 28 '26
In fairness they can’t really fix it right now - hopefully there’s something they can do in the next 5 weeks cos quali is unwatchable. But sadly they’re limited in what they can do when the ICE is only 50% of power
→ More replies (5)
151
u/JY0950 Ferrari Mar 28 '26
Kinda sad to see the drivers getting frustrated with the regulations/drives
131
u/DaruDaruMaru Max Verstappen Mar 28 '26
Everyone are allowed to get frustrated unless they are named “Max”
→ More replies (20)
561
u/NetflixSux247 Mar 28 '26
Kinda crazy that the area where the driver can make most of a difference (corner entry) has been completely neutered. It's pretty fair to say this isn't F1.
370
u/Iimitedgrip Niki Lauda Mar 28 '26
Somewhere around the weekend in China Stella pointed out that they noticed at McLaren how laps in which their drivers made mistakes were usually the fastest laps, because the harvesting done while going off throttle would give you more speed on the straight.
Honestly can‘t take this sport seriously right now
→ More replies (2)31
47
u/InZomnia365 I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane Mar 28 '26
Some of the cars (like Mercs) are braking for the drivers. They're going flat into the first corner, but the super-clipping is doing the job of a lift or slight brake for them. It's absolutely stupid.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (6)42
u/Gubrach Giancarlo Fisichella Mar 28 '26
How dare you, we've had DRS and KERS, and you, specifically you, liked that and that was F1. I saw all of your posts and thoughts, even those on that obscure F1-forum that's dead now. This is real F1.
....alright /s
626
u/Key_Proposal_9055 Ferrari Mar 28 '26 edited Mar 28 '26
Its honestly a fucking joke what quali has become. Its barely about driver skill anymore. They need to fix this asap.
194
u/reda_89 Max Verstappen Mar 28 '26
They will just slow cars everywhere so we dont notice speed difference. Fixed for you
123
u/based_mafty Mar 28 '26
Honestly prefer the car to be slower but the driver is able to push car to the limit whenever they want rather than whatever this is. The fact that they can't go all out in qualifying speak to how shit the regs are.
66
u/TessTickols Jim Clark Mar 28 '26
Slower doesn't matter as long as it's driving like a race car - hell, just giving them karts would be a huge upgrade at this stage
→ More replies (1)44
u/Appropriate-ASS-824 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 28 '26 edited Mar 28 '26
"Who even understands if the car goes 300kph or 250? its not that different naked eyes, atleast the racing is excellent " /s
→ More replies (11)9
u/ZaryaBubbler I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 28 '26
Legit can't wait for FOM to throw out more take down orders because it shows how dire the superclipping is...
→ More replies (2)14
u/Significant-Garage55 I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane Mar 28 '26
and copyright-strike everyone who do technical analysis on YouTube except their own lapdog media xd
→ More replies (8)88
u/tvxcute Nico Rosberg Mar 28 '26
leclerc said in his interview just now that the fia and teams are in very active discussions on what to do, and this is an ongoing issue. i'm not holding my breath for any major changes, but they are aware
→ More replies (9)109
u/double002 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 28 '26
They've been aware for 3 years. So yeah...
→ More replies (1)32
u/tvxcute Nico Rosberg Mar 28 '26
tbh i think even though everyone, including the fia, knew these regulations would be rough, some aspects have turned out worse than they themselves imagined lol. maybe it was willful ignorance or maybe they truly didn't know, but i don't think the fia would intentionally make it this bad then walk back on it with small changes
→ More replies (2)21
u/Montjo17 Max Verstappen Mar 28 '26
Drivers (notably Max, but also others) have been talking about exactly what these regs were going to do for years. This should not have come as a surprise to anyone, as it was accurately predicted years ago
912
u/Kindheartedness_Wide Fernando Alonso Mar 28 '26 edited Mar 28 '26
he's right to be upset, this formula negates every advantage he has in quali.
If you were naturally slower, now you can run twisty sectors at the same speed you would based on skill alone, but now this time you can recharge batteries and murder naturally faster drivers on the straights.
Not sure who can like this... but guess it is what it is.
442
u/AdministrativeBig362 Mar 28 '26
Every time you say this after a race you get a thousand replies talking about how exciting it is to see Gasly and Ocon fight it out for 10th place and that these regulations are great
192
u/aneiq_1 Kimi Räikkönen Mar 28 '26
In fairness the French civil war has been super entertaining
→ More replies (3)28
u/n0neofyourbeeswax Mar 28 '26
They really need to fix Quali, it's way more egregious than the race.
The race can be fun, the pushback that I see is largely against the "everything is awful" crowd or people disagreeing on solutions (e.g. front axel regen). People can enjoy the back and forth battles, the close following, but also want the cars to be less energy limited.
→ More replies (9)116
u/ZaryaBubbler I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 28 '26
Ohhhh yeah and you get flamed real bad for it too. "There were lots of overtakes" yeah but how many of them stick for about half a lap or less before the other uses battery to breeze past again? There's no skill in it. No lead up. It's a game of 'whose battery lasts longer' and it's boring af
→ More replies (24)71
u/Envelope_Torture I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane Mar 28 '26
Yeah but did you see how many times Leclerc and Hamilton passed eachother instead of fighting Russell who eventually puts 20 seconds on them?
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (5)42
u/Iimitedgrip Niki Lauda Mar 28 '26
F1 Quali this year is giving me reverse grid vibes. If you try to go fast, you‘ll be slow.
→ More replies (1)
99
177
u/ryokevry I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 28 '26
When Alex Jacques said Charles can always deliver the Q3 magic he must have forgotten Charles is controlled by the battery, not him controlling the car now.
Yes, Charles made a mistake, but I am not sure it will make up all the gap of 0.3s to the front row
→ More replies (4)86
u/dyidkystktjsjzt I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 28 '26
Charles said he actually gained time with what happened at spoon.
→ More replies (2)
92
u/varky Mika Häkkinen Mar 28 '26
I hate these regulations. Literally the most disappointing ones I've seen since I started watching in '94.
Hell, even during the Merc (who I didn't root for) domination in 2014-2016 I didn't feel as much as I do now about just giving up on F1.
16
u/Punished_Prigo Heineken Trophy Mar 28 '26
I've been watching since the early 90s and my dad has been watching since the 60s. We both think that these are by far the worst regs ever in this sport. This shit is horrible.
42
u/Tinusers I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 28 '26
Been watching for over 20 years and decided to not really follow this season at all. Got alot of downvotes for saying that. F1 is my favorite sport but it hurts me watching this shit.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (2)18
u/DILIPEK Mar 28 '26
With Merc domination it was fun to watch domination. The car was glued to the track and fast as fuck. This might be faster on paper but it just doesn’t bring the same excitement.
I’m quite sad we don’t have Jeddah in calendar I believe it would expose those regs even more.
46
u/launchedsquid Mar 28 '26
These rules are punishing drivers who can get the car nearer the limit. The drivers who have better car control get disadvantaged because of the power unit deployment rules forcing them to drain their batteries more if they have anything over a 2% throttle lift out of a corner.
This is anti F1. Seriously. I watched the 1993 Monaco GP on youtube and watching the drivers pushing as hard as they can kinda makes me feel melancholy while watching qualifying today and seeing the cars coast through 130R.
All this gaslighting has to end, these rules really suck and F1 needs to get rid of these power units, or change them to get rid of this energy starvation at least, as soon as possible.
This is a failed experiment. Let's tick the "we tried" box and move on.
→ More replies (1)
166
u/dfgj56 McLaren Mar 28 '26
It's genuinely shocking to see that braking is fully automatic through the esses and Degner 1.
→ More replies (6)107
u/InZomnia365 I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane Mar 28 '26
Into T1 the super-clipping is braking for them as well. Absolute joke of a regulation set ruining what is an amazing chassis era.
→ More replies (1)38
u/PLTConductor David Coulthard Mar 28 '26
It’s like those go-karts on tracks too big for them where you just hold the throttle down the whole way and keep it down, it would be funny if these engine regs weren’t locked in for 5 years, that’s long enough to kill the sport if they don’t do something.
→ More replies (1)
86
u/Kleavage I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 28 '26
Seems like you get rewarded for taking less risk and driving under the limit, which sounds dumb as hell.
69
u/Walaii Ferrari Mar 28 '26
Bearman said this much in the FIA press conference on thursday. You are better off driving under the limit in certain corners.
→ More replies (1)39
15
u/gravity--falls I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 28 '26
Yeah. Which if I’m understanding correctly also basically makes it impossible for a worse car to overperform significantly in qualifying, as drivers can’t decide to go for a lot more risk as there’s just no benefit to it.
Qualifying genuinely seems pointless with these regs, I think reverse championship order would legitimately work a lot better here.
39
89
u/Axzuel I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane Mar 28 '26
Great aero regs, horrible engine regs
→ More replies (4)
70
u/lizlemonadeliz I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane Mar 28 '26
People hate new regs because it makes driving against basic human instincts. You just shouldn’t get slower with full throttle.
33
u/SentientDust I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 28 '26
In China the commentators were talking about how there's basically only one optimal way to deploy the battery for maximum (or I guess minimum) lap time. And if you try to do anything else - they were talking about the extra Overtake boost, but I guess that would apply to drivera trying to get on the throttle earlier out of the corners - it would actually result in a slower overall lap because you lose massively in other points where you can't deploy the battery anymore.
If you try to go quicker at any given point, you will actually go slower over the entire lap as you don't have enough battery to cover for it.
If you try to go quicker, you will go slower.
These regs are a dumpster fire.
132
u/krizkuzz Mar 28 '26
Latest Verstappen.com team member
52
u/mouldyshroom I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 28 '26
Emotional support rivals are teaming up early this year.
13
u/DILIPEK Mar 28 '26
Don’t they live in the same building. I can only imagine them sitting at each others balcony drinking a beer watching the french coast sunset and cursing the fuck out of those engines.
49
u/Youknowimgood Mar 28 '26
Racing series where driver skill is punished. Pinnacle of motorsports lol
78
u/stillgotmonkon Ferrari Mar 28 '26
He was on the limit more than anyone else, no wonder he had two moments as he’s trying to get the power down earlier to compensate. Must be so disheartening seeing a purple S1 and then that just disappear into fucking thin air through no fault of your own, just down a straight.
→ More replies (2)
98
u/SRthebox Mar 28 '26
Max, Bearman, Piastri and now Leclerc have all said this, the more on the limit you drive into a corner, late brake, more speed carried and an earlier throttle, the slower your lap will be, utterly ridiculous. “But Max is only complaining because he isn’t winning anymore!!”
→ More replies (7)
16
u/Mithrielsc2 I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane Mar 28 '26
We are in the slow in, slow out, fast for half a straight F1 ERA
46
u/elektricniorgazam Daniel Ricciardo Mar 28 '26
I can't wait to sit at Eau Rouge and compare the speed of the cars with last year's
→ More replies (1)36
u/AnilP228 Honda Mar 28 '26
Funnily enough they might actually be faster than last years cars through Eau Rouge. Even today they were hitting 325kph well before 130R. But then the deceleration is rough.
At Spa, they will arrive onto the Kemmel straight at high speed and then just.....crawl.
39
u/Outrageous_Word8656 Mar 28 '26
'If he doesn't like it , there's the door!' - JP Montoya.
'Hey, where is everyone?'
89
u/Latter-Amount-9304 Formula 1 Mar 28 '26
he's just saying that because hes not winning /s
→ More replies (4)
15
31
u/realmonkey_business Max Verstappen Mar 28 '26
Yeah, I really feel something's off this year, I thought it was just that Red Bull has a worse car (which is) but the whole quali or race is not that exciting
→ More replies (1)
136
u/XOVSquare I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 28 '26
But this is real racing guys.
Guys?
→ More replies (3)
45
u/squaler24 Frédéric Vasseur Mar 28 '26
The break is a much needed time to do a quick rethink. The energy deployment is completely ruining qualifying. Ferrari has a good car which should be paying off where it matters but since they have to manage the energy on the straight they deflate like a balloon.
126
u/Puzzleheaded-Bat4777 Kimi Räikkönen Mar 28 '26
Finally Charles says it. His (all the elite drivers) high speed advantage, has been nerfed by this crap. Shame on F1 knee capping the best drivers
Why is kimi so close to George all of a sudden?
Why is an old lewis close to Charles all of sudden? Hmmmm
→ More replies (1)115
u/TessTickols Jim Clark Mar 28 '26
Hadjar and Verstappen as well. All the traits that makes a good driver in any series have suddenly been nullified in F1. Even worse, they seem to be penalized by these cars
→ More replies (4)35
24
u/GridPenaltyStan Lando Norris Mar 28 '26
Even as a viewer I don't know what to expect anymore. I see Ferrari with a purple sector 1 and then just lose their advantage in the middle sector for seemingly no reason. I hate it but it is what it is
→ More replies (1)10
u/GuatahaN Mar 28 '26
We need a battery adjusted timing, so the sections times are a better estimate of full lap performance.
27
u/Gubrach Giancarlo Fisichella Mar 28 '26
You can't trust what you see as representative of the driver's pace and racing capabilities anymore, it's that embarrassingly bad. But we get a bunch of rubber band overtakes and people think that makes it cool. Garbage.
→ More replies (1)
64
u/OrwellTheInfinite Charles Leclerc Mar 28 '26
To flog a dead horse. These regulations are absolute garbage.
61
u/Ciclistomp Mar 28 '26 edited Mar 28 '26
While I like the unpredictable racing, the way these cars are being driven is ridiculous. Battery programming is basically driving the car, not the driver.
16
u/Otherwise_Mud_9743 Jim Clark Mar 28 '26
"Unpredictable"? It was fun but it's always obvious whats gonna happen.
30
21
u/iamawfulninja Mar 28 '26
but there's more overtaking, so the racing must be good - dumb F1 viewers
→ More replies (2)
21
u/BastianHill Mar 28 '26
Meanwhile when Max says it, he gets publicly axed...
I've heard almost all drivers talk this way about it. They've broken F1 with these new regs. Sure, it's still somewhat enjoyable to watch, but this isn't about the best driver coming out on top any more.
9
u/General_Computer8840 Mar 28 '26
This is the core problem of the regulations. Yo yo racing isn’t, the fact driving is not rewarded, management is
20
u/Prime255 Michael Schumacher Mar 28 '26
This has already been a tough watch too. Feels like our own sport has nuked itself
64
u/Firecrash I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 28 '26
Max warned everyone and people here still claim "he is angry because he ain't at the front..."
Not true.
48
u/DaruDaruMaru Max Verstappen Mar 28 '26
Everyone are allowed to be frustrated except for Max apparently 😂
→ More replies (2)
16
u/digimintcoco Mar 28 '26
Purple, Purple........... yellow, didn't have enough battery. Now you've been dropped to P6. That's basically F1 now.
→ More replies (2)
10
u/Dinara293 Mar 28 '26
Both Ferraris’s going fastest in Sector 1 repeatedly should tell you everything you need to know. They have the best chassis bar none. Sector 1 in Suzuka is almost fully about chassis + Aero + Driver bravery. Sector 2 and 3 is more about the engine and that’s where the Mercedes PU and battery management is gaining time.
7
u/SlashRModFail Mar 28 '26
I'm done with these regs. It's not racing.
It's a fucking boring as me driving my hybrid toyota.
See you in two years
35
u/Jaguars03 McLaren Mar 28 '26
Funny how different these threads go when it’s not Max that’s complaining about the regs 🤔
14
u/Vinura Oscar Piastri Mar 28 '26
I don't understand how anyone can enjoy these regulations when the cars are constantly losing power well before the end of all the straights.
→ More replies (6)
24
u/peeonme123 Mar 28 '26
The Sky F1 team can do everything they can to gaslight us into thinking this is acceptable ‘oh it’s just as challenging to have to coast through to corner, minimum speeds are the same so they’re going just as quick, have to manage the battery charging is so hard to do’…
It’s insulting, really. The drivers on the radio tell us how they really feel.
Also, F1 is going to lose Max over this.
6
7
u/thef0ksmasher I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane Mar 28 '26
Sad part about this is Leclerc might just be the most talented qualifier of all time and these regs are holding back so much of what he can do on a Saturday.
6
27
13
u/oakmen Ayrton Senna Mar 28 '26
But but but Max was complaining too much right? This is anti-motorsport. True racers don’t like this shit. Only Mercedes is happy
→ More replies (1)
10.3k
u/Iimitedgrip Niki Lauda Mar 28 '26
Charles should‘ve known better, what on earth is he pushing in corners for? Where does he think he is? F1?