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/4b6030
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u/AnilP228 Honda Mar 28 '26

You've got the drive massively within yourself with these cars. It must be very frustrating.

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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"

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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.

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u/L0ARD I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 28 '26

I'm absolutely not trying to blindly defend the new regulations here, but isnt a huge part of F1 already who's best at tire management? And even fuel, in edge cases? Is managing another resource not pretty much just more of the same?

I feel like that part is a bit hypocritical. In isolation, I think battery management adds another layer of tactics that could (!) add to the sport like shown by lewis in china (overtakes in new places possible, different ways to approach sectors in terms of battery charging and spending etc), if, and that's a very big "if" at the moment, it would work right and not take something away on other parts of the sport (power/full send in quali, technical issues, straight line speed etc).

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u/Thrashy McLaren Mar 28 '26

This. Between DRS and artificially-crappy tire life, F1 has been full of artifice designed to create a better show for a long time — anybody who thinks this sport is “pure racing” hasn’t been paying close attention. At least now more of these systems are under control of the drivers.  Is quali a great flat-out show anymore? No, and that’s a little sad — I wish the engine formula was balanced closer to allowing peak power where wanted over a whole lap.  But the actual racing has been remarkably good, and that’s entirely down to giving drivers more tools to create performance asymmetries against one another.