This is where I am. Never watched an F1 race until yesterday and was drawn in by the movie. But I had no idea what I was actually watching.

Things that struck me as a novice:
- Kimi's easy cruise to the win. Thankfully I had some small sense of the impact an ill-timed Safety Car can have thanks to the movie, but there just seemed to be no challenge at all afterwards
- All the passes with an immediate pass back. Looks like that's driven by power management like y'all have mentioned

Overall I see the appeal as these guys are incredible drivers, and the tech is awesome. But it wasn't as fundamentally exciting as I thought it would be. Definitely going to keep paying attention this season to try and pick up more nuance.

Totally understand the part about Sonny's insane driving, and I didn't expect that from real racing.

I did watch Rush awhile back and really enjoyed that one too.

🇯🇵 🏎️Japanese GP Race Strategy Society Debrief just landed.. 👉🏻

Piastri led. His tyres were stable. If anything, he was getting faster. There was no emergency.

Then McLaren triggered a pit cycle that changed the race.

Norris boxes Lap 16. Ferrari cover. The midfield follows.… pic.twitter.com/2AsWVgJ1yI

— Ruth Buscombe (@RuthBuscombe) March 30, 2026

The midfield follows. Net positions gained through all those pit stops? Zero.

Mercedes do not react. They sit. They wait. They know what they have.

The moment Antonelli finds clean air he posts 93.948s on old tyres. Faster than both McLarens on fresh rubber.

That was the signal. McLaren should have seen it.

Instead, Lap 18: they box Piastri to cover nobody.

When the Safety Car comes on Lap 22, Mercedes Kimi for free. 10.5s pit loss instead of 22.7 under green. They lock out the front through strategy alone.

Piastri restarts P2 and cannot pass Antonelli for 25 laps. Track position is king at Suzuka. McLaren gave it away.

The learning?

When the team with the fastest car does not react to your pit stop, do not make another one. They are telling you something. Listen.

Full debrief with race traces, data, and the telemetry breakdown is live in the newsletter now.

F1 Academy is adding a 3rd race to 2 weekends to makeup for lost races in the ME.
Wonder if F2/F3 will do the same instead of trying to find a different weekend.

Introducing a three-race weekend format in 2026 and beyond — debuting in Montreal and returning in Austin. 🗓️

This brings the 2026 calendar back to 14 races following confirmation that the #SaudiArabianGP will no longer take place in April.https://t.co/f2mKsR68C2#F1ACADEMY pic.twitter.com/QFeDGDEj1w

— F1 Academy (@f1academy) April 1, 2026

more news outlets talked about F2 trying to do Miami yesterday

https://racer.com/2026/03/31/f2-exploring-round-in-miami-after-race-postponements
https://www.autohebdo.fr/actualites/monoplace/formule-2/la-f2-lorgne-sur-miami-et-montreal-pour-remplacer-les-courses-au-moyen-orient.html?fbclid=IwY2xjawQ6rxpleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETF0WW5QR1JQYlp5S1ljV2hic3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHtxlJq85lSPK9ADgFCLBE_YPf8JA9Bi6oDwO8BLTnV0YNMO_yR675d0zv7_M_aem_uOZdGuH5mOFEtnUha-EUJQ

its the logistics what might be making it hard to happen

I read that the other day. That got me wondering if they would try something similar to F1A.

Was hoping to spice up Miami GP a bit..

F1TV has complete F1 seasons that can be rewatched in the meantime, especially for the newer fans. Y'all can hear the old V10 and V8 engines that everyone yearns about from the good ol' days

F1TV is great, I also like IndyCarLive when I need to slum a little bit

Max Verstappen's engineer Gianpiero Lambiase is set to join McLaren from 2028 in a shock move, Sky Sports News understands 🚨 pic.twitter.com/Nr7Ah6fQRW

— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) April 9, 2026

pic.twitter.com/2K8696MGiL

— The Race (@wearetherace) April 9, 2026

finally F2 makes their North American debut

The FIA and @Formula2 announce that Miami and Montréal will host the next two rounds of the 2026 calendar, alongside Formula 1.
#FIA #F2 pic.twitter.com/ROg6Kh1ves

— FIA (@fia) April 9, 2026

headed there sat and sunday

BREAKING: The Turkish Grand Prix will return to the calendar from 2027 as part of a new five-year agreement 🇹🇷#F1 #TurkishGP pic.twitter.com/MAfhrOCnTH

— Formula 1 (@F1) April 24, 2026

they look like adult sized go-karts

Slightly larger than the soap-box derby size of the late-60's, but still a better size for Monaco than modern F1

agreed!

Alex Zanardi passes.

Alex Zanardi death: former F1 driver and Paralympic champion dies aged 59

I don't think those McLaren upgrades are working like they wanted.

Following discussions between FIA, F1 and the Miami promoter, the decision has been taken to move the start of Sunday's Miami Grand Prix to 13:00 local time in Miami due to the weather forecast that is expected to bring heavier rainstorms later in the afternoon, close to the… pic.twitter.com/hasIGbJSgV

— Formula 1 (@F1) May 3, 2026

I ended up not going, was able to cancel my flight in and airbnb (hopefully there is actual thunder so my nonrefundable jet blue becomes refundable lol)

Previous years I bought my ticket day of from the circuit, this year they were sold out and resale was high, like very high. Couldn't even find GA for under $1100 this week. Will have to wait a little bit more until I head back to a race

the F2 race was so good but the empty stands worry me that they won't attempt to come back next year, especially when they have a smaller calendar and EU tracks are easier for them to get to

The F2 race was awesome. Hopefully they can find a way to incorporate F2/F3/F1A in some combo in the US/Canada/Mexico in the future.

Hopefully the can get most of the racing in tomorrow.

Man I hope the tickets arent crazy for COTA this year. Really want to take the family for the weekend for my birthday this year. In previous years, I've seen weekend GA passes at Costco for $250-300 each. Hoping to find that deal again this year.

McLaren looks like they might put up a decent fight for the rest of the season, but Kimi is really good when he's not crashing other drivers out like last season. These new regs are still a disgrace though.

yeah i'd def grab the costco deal asap. I got luck year getting one from a friend for the same price but resale prices didnt fall down.

this is the first year since the first where Miami was sold out, last year the box office had tickets still available on friday...in all honestly i don't understand why this year sold out and resale was high. maybe people really wanted to see the first race after a month? F1 movie hype?

hopefully Vegas is still a resale market. I saved a lot last year by buying off Stubhub the week of lol

Fun 1st half of the race.
Started losing interest in then2nd half.

Also,was that fake cruise ship new this year?
Did that replace the fake marina of yachts?

Sounds like V8 engines will be back by 2030 or 2031.

boogieman said:

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Fun 1st half of the race.
Started losing interest in then2nd half.

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Yep, 1st half was a lot of fun.

LeClerc blowing 4 spots on the last lap was crazy.

he ended up blowing even more after his penalty- P8

AgsWin2011 said:

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Sounds like V8 engines will be back by 2030 or 2031.

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Bring back the v10!

...and HOW does Max always pull off a flawless 360 on track and keep going. This is at least the 2nd or 3rd time I've seen him do that.

Bravo sir