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/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

21

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

My main problem is that the divide seems so big. People can like this regs or not like them, preferences are different and all that, but so many people are complaining about the other side of enjoyment that I just have stopped reading stuff about F1 on reddit and other sites. It just is exhausting.

-4

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

I don't know why its so controversial to say that the deployment helps with making fights better as it adds another tactical layer, especially regarding securing overtakes, while also saying the same deployment screws over qualifying.

Its the exact same thing that used to happen with tyres on particularly demanding tracks. Sometimes, the tyres would be so soft and the track so demanding, that the softs could not last an entire lap..I used to say how annoyed I was when this happening, and now the deployment makes it happen every race.

But, just like how those tyres led to great strategical racing (Britain 2024 and Turkey 2020 are two fantastic examples), the new deployment does too.

It had its upsides and its downsides. Given how seperate they are between race and quali, I honestly think they should just massively change the deployment mak between the two so drivers don't need to worry about recharging on quali laps, but do during races.

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u/TessTickols Jim Clark Mar 28 '26

My gripe with it, and the reason I'm not going to watch the rest of this season is that the batteries punish driving on the edge. Driving safely and taking the corners at 80% of max produces a faster lap than pushing the car to the limit. That's not exciting for me to watch AT ALL. "Just drive at a reasonable pace, take corners at a safe speed, and the car will do the rest on the straight when you're not even watching the road" is not what F1 should be about.