George Russell got himself engaged over the break, then celebrated by taking pole for the Sprint.
I hope he claws his way back up the ranks. I still won’t be sad when Kimi wins it, but I’d love there to be a few more challengers.
Lawson barely managed to out qualify his own car, and was out qualified by both of his teammates. Have to give props to Yuki for doing as well as he did for his first time in the 2026 car.
That was a bit of a slow burn after the restart. But man, it got really great towards the end!
Best race of 2026!
Simply amazing nobody collected up Max and turned it into a Bloodbath. And despite being a Ferrari fan, I’m glad George was able to hold them off. He probably wouldn’t have it not for the late VSC.
Good race!
Who has David Coulthard as a commentator on their feed? I swear, he’s trying to break into Stand-up Comedy.
I think it was during Sprint Qually, he managed to quietly refer to the other two guys as, “Cunning Linguists” 
I’d like to interrupt this wonderful discussion with an F1 history question, please.
Can you guys confirm which race/year the following occurred?
My recollection is full of holes, and I’m trying to get the story straight in my mind. I think it was 2020 or 2021 and it was in Baku.
The situation: Lewis was leading and Max was a lap behind. A safety car came out, and someone in Race Control let some of the racers lap the safety car, so that they wouldn’t be a down a lap. I think this handed the championship to Max or something like that. There are certainly some blind spots in my recollection.
The point that I remember from the occurrence is that the FIA top brass massaged the rules a bit to allow a better show for the fans.
What am I misremembering here?
Yes, it was 2021 Abu Dabi. The last race of the year. Max and Lewis were tied on points but Max had one more win. So whoever finished ahead of the other would be champ unless neither got points, then max is champ. Lewis dominated the race easily. Then a late wreck with only a few laps remaining. The rules gave the director several options.
Red flag, everyone comes into the pits and can get fresh tires while they clear the wreck.
Yellow flag, lapped traffic could unlap themselves. This would have taken too long and the race would end under yellow. Ham is champ.
Yellow flag, nobody can unlap themselves. Would have gotten one exciting race lap at the end with Lewis at the front but on old hard tires and max on very fresh soft tires, but he’d have to get past several lapped cars who would be given blue flags to get out of the way.
But the race director chose an option not given in the rules, he let only those three or four lapped cars between max and lewis unlap themselves, and not all the lapped cars. Therefore putting max on fresh soft rubber right behind lewis on old hard rubber. It was indeed an exciting last lap, but it definitely gave max an advantage he should’ve have had.
The race director was fired and rules rewritten in the next season.
Thanks for that detailed synopsis, SN. I’m glad I was able to remember enough to allow you to hone into what I was on about. And the Abu Dhabi venue makes more sense (end of the season). Thanks again for clearing that up for me.
I think you meant to write “shouldn’t have had,” right?
Yes. I did mean that. Thanks.
That race was not Formula One’s proudest moment.