Formula 1 2026 Season Discussion

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#3503350 15-Jun-2026 18:44

Jaxson:

Continue to be surprised by cars being two seconds off the pole lap time by only 10th place and below.
Really are 2 or 3 classes in F1 and good to see Liam right up there in tier 2.

Charles just destroying cars this year.

Outside the top 4 teams, the cars seem to be 2.5 seconds a lap slower. By lap 4 the car in pos 8 was about 10s down.

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Jaxson

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#3503374 15-Jun-2026 21:32

I’ve actually been surprised we haven’t seen this rule come into play this year.

In Formula 1, a driver must set a lap time within 107% of the fastest time in the first qualifying session (Q1) to compete in the race. For example, if the fastest Q1 lap is 100 seconds (1:40.000), a driver's best lap must be under 107 seconds (1:47.000) to avoid disqualification.

bigreddog

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#3503458 16-Jun-2026 09:50

7% is actually quite a big gap - 4.2 seconds slower per minute of laptime. At Barcelona the last car in Q1 was Alonso 3.19 seconds slower than Hamilton which equated to 104%. I think I read somewhere that Miami was 5%?

It does happen where cars are unable to take place in Qualifying or crash before they set a proper time the stewards have to give approval for them to start - largely a box ticking exercise these days.

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tdgeek

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#3503460 16-Jun-2026 10:04

I would assume that with a big regs change and a new team and a new engine builder that that rule will be very flexible, more or less a free pass

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#3505953 25-Jun-2026 09:04

bigreddog:

7% is actually quite a big gap - 4.2 seconds slower per minute of laptime. At Barcelona the last car in Q1 was Alonso 3.19 seconds slower than Hamilton which equated to 104%. I think I read somewhere that Miami was 5%?

It does happen where cars are unable to take place in Qualifying or crash before they set a proper time the stewards have to give approval for them to start - largely a box ticking exercise these days.

The 107% rule has been informally extended to "at any point in the weekend, have you posted a competitive time?" as well. There are instances of an FP time being used to justify race entrance.

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#3506159 26-Jun-2026 03:33

NZH story yesterday about rumours of Liam Lawson possibly losing his Racing Bulls seat. There’s a lot of BS that goes on in F1 circles.

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Jaxson

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#3506270 26-Jun-2026 11:20

Liam will likely battle not having serious money behind him.
The Red Bull move appeared to be a leverage tactic to get more money out of Honda to sponsor Yuki for example.

In practise though Liam is well up the points charts, and is very close to Hadjar in the Red Bull.
If he goes it's through no fault of his own and will be due to bigger external forces. He's been very clean this year, and hasn't cost the team in parts etc.

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#3506273 26-Jun-2026 11:29

Jaxson:

If he goes it's through no fault of his own and will be due to bigger external forces. He's been very clean this year, and hasn't cost the team in parts etc.

100%. He'll be on people's radar as a result and should he lose his seat I imagine some teams will absolutely be asking the question "should we sign him".

The "best of the rest" title is shaping up between him and Gasly who is a much better driver than his team right now.

Also; everyone saying Tsolov will take Lawson's seat... but why not Linblad's? He's not really set the grid on fire like all the (UK) press claimed he would.

Benoire

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#3506278 26-Jun-2026 11:47

I am not surprised by Lindblad, his F2 / F3 performances were lacklustre and wasn't really anywhere near what I would expect for a RBR academy driver - Marko has dumped better for lesser issues. It might simply be related to commercial viability - lindblad is british so has that marketability and Tsolov is Bulgarian so potentially european market... Lawson being a Kiwi is probably not that high in terms of commercial generation.

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#3506284 26-Jun-2026 12:08

Benoire:

Lawson being a Kiwi is probably not that high in terms of commercial generation.

You can't say he hasn't given Red Bull a lot of press coverage.

tdgeek

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#3506288 26-Jun-2026 12:12

Benoire:

I am not surprised by Lindblad, his F2 / F3 performances were lacklustre and wasn't really anywhere near what I would expect for a RBR academy driver - Marko has dumped better for lesser issues. It might simply be related to commercial viability - lindblad is british so has that marketability and Tsolov is Bulgarian so potentially european market... Lawson being a Kiwi is probably not that high in terms of commercial generation.

Could be that. But do they want results or money? You could end up with two Arvid's pounding around back past midfield not getting any positive air time

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Jaxson

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#3506292 26-Jun-2026 12:25

Yeah Lawson has punched above his weight this year and his points haul will bring in a lot of prize money if it elevates the teams final order placement.

bigreddog

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#3506313 26-Jun-2026 13:08

Helmut Marko left Redbull end of last year - you would think now that decisions might be more rational than they were previously - but then again who knows.

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