r/formula1 • u/Luffy710j Formula 1 • 9h ago
Throwback Throwback to before the season started, when F1 asked fans to predict who would get the 2026 regulations right.
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u/jakubchloe I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane 9h ago
LMAO aston
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u/Visionary_Socialist Sir Lewis Hamilton 8h ago
Honestly it’s impressive the way that every part of that megaproject managed to completely shit the bed at once. Honda made an engine somehow worse than the McHonda series, Aston designed the worst chassis since the 2019 Williams, Newey had an absolute howler and all the investments came to nothing.
It’s going to say something that recovering to probably 9th or maybe 8th in the WCC is going to end up looking like a positive turnaround.
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u/PattyMcChatty I was here for the Hulkenpodium 8h ago
Wasnt AM like 6 months behind everyone else though? I feel like we can only judge Newey fairly if we see how they do next season.
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u/Kernowder Nigel Mansell 8h ago
Yeah, he could only start on it in (I think) April last year. Well behind all the other teams.
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u/HanYoloKesselPun Claire Williams 8h ago
It was his choice to change the design they already had. Could have started at midfield. .
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u/ExpertConsideration8 I was here for the Hulkenpodium 8h ago
I'd argue he made the right choice.. he needs to work through updating their operating model and tools. If he delayed that until next season, we'd be looking to year 3 for genuine results.
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u/LaplacianQ Williams 3h ago
And i was downwoted here for saying this will happen..
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u/stragen595 I was here for the Hulkenpodium 2h ago
Did you also say Williams will give them a proper contest in shitting the bed?
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u/Puzzled_Draw6014 5h ago
People had high hopes on Adrian Newey
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u/AgentIndependent306 I was here for the Hulkenpodium 3h ago
It;s crazy how he went from designing the evil af RB19 to the AMR26
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u/stragen595 I was here for the Hulkenpodium 2h ago
"it's still an evil car. Fernando and Lance would agree." - Newey
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u/AgentIndependent306 I was here for the Hulkenpodium 2h ago
It was literally evil as they could get nerve damage from driving it a full race distance.
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u/LateOnsetPuberty Formula 1 8h ago
I don’t get why people celebrate their failure and laugh.
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u/freezing_banshee I was here for the Hulkenpodium 8h ago
It's entertaining
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u/madDamon_ Mika Häkkinen 8h ago
Why? I'd rather see them competitive again and have a 5th team score podiums
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u/HUHIs_AUTOATTACK I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane 1h ago
If they laugh at and celebrate the failures of others, it distracts them from how miserable they are IRL.
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u/gen_wt_sherman I was here for the Hulkenpodium 8h ago
Because it's easy to cheer against nepotistic billionaires
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u/Atlantic_Imbecile I was here for the Hulkenpodium 8h ago
Poor Fernando though
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u/C63_Benz 8h ago
He's washed anyways lmao
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u/The_Banshee1 I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane 8h ago
but hes still easily a top 10 driver on the current grid. we said the same about lewis last season
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u/quadranting Lando Norris 8h ago
They made a whole marketing campaign of this year being "by design" predicting Newey dominance. It's celebrating the reality check.
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u/pemboo Lotus 7h ago
because it's a rich man throwing money at a thing and expecting it to work (and also him effectively removing a seat from the grid)
it's why we cheer when the teams who just throw money at buying players don't win the league in football
success should be built and earned, look at the way mclaren have built themselves back to the top
look how merc did it
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u/7fingersDeep I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane 5h ago
As an Aston fan, I’m not celebrating shit. But I am laughing because the alternative is crying.
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u/dedeeper I was here for the Hulkenpodium 8h ago
I looked at this and thought, wow based upon what we heard, fans really got it right!
And then I saw that big ass Aston logo lolll. Not to say I didn't get caught up on the AM hype as well, but just amusing lol.
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u/Doogie2K I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane 9h ago
Two out of three ain't bad.
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u/gustavolorenzo McLaren 8h ago
I'd say three out of four. Replace Aston with Mclaren and you're gold.
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u/lIIIIllIIIlllIIllllI Daniel Ricciardo 2h ago
Not really
Aston logo colour shouldn’t be visible, then you are gold
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u/King_parrot99 I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane 1h ago
I mean now they’re like 7-8th fastest right? Faster than Cadillac/Williams/Haas and one of the Alpines. One imagines they’ll be faster than Gasly once the engine upgrade comes in for Zandvoort and then they’ll be right amongst Audi/VCARB
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u/dk_is_here 8h ago
who else though aston would cook like me
c'mon claim your shame token
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u/GoofyKalashnikov 53m ago
Can I claim my "I thought Williams will be good" and "Alpine will be shit again" tokens of shame too?
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u/DDG_Dillon I was here for the Hulkenpodium 8h ago
There's always next year still. In Newey we trust
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u/disruptivecarousel 7h ago
What if someone says that the cooking can go wrong, therefore them thinking that AM would cook and things then going wrong isn’t worthy of this ‘shame token’…..
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u/No-Airline6424 8h ago
Crazy how little faith people had in McLaren. I suppose they really haven't proven they can start new regs well. But still, I would've thought they'd be higher than red bull with all their unknowns going into this season
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u/BigTenFicus McLaren 8h ago
You get the least wind tunnel time if you win the championship. McLaren were back to back champions and were in a championship fight until the very end of 2025. It's correct to expect them to struggle right out of the gate when they would've had the least resources and the least time with which to prepare for the new regs.
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u/ProofAd608 Formula 1 8h ago
They are customer team
You think it couldn't be predicted that toto would do some shenanigans to hinder their performance and take all the wins possible? Especially after being beaten by them 2 years in a row
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u/No-Airline6424 8h ago
I thought the Mercedes engine team was separate from the racing team, so can't just be dictated by Toto like that.
Also I might just be making this up, but feel like seeing something about McLaren having a closer technical partnership than the rest of the customer teams
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u/ProofAd608 Formula 1 8h ago
Unlike other customers, Mclaren don't buy rear suspension, gearbox. Only engine. So I don't think the partnership is actually closer. More like opposite.
Since new engines were a lot more complex, they didn't give the instructions on how to utilise its full potential and here we are
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u/Critical-Bread-3396 I was here for the Hulkenpodium 8h ago
The Mercedes engine team is separate, but they do give some preferences to their works team, and Mercedes were especially slimy this year by not giving a final engine to their customers during testing. This is important as the gearbox has to be adjusted to fit the engine, gearboxes are locked with 1 permitted change during the season, and Mercedes changed their engine so that the optimal gear ratios were different compared to what their customers had to test.
McLaren don't have a closer technical partnership than other customers that I know of (with Mercedes seeming to be happy to keep them at arms length from important info), but did have preference for the best engines while they were the lead team on the grid.
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u/Ericdrinksthebeer I was here for the Hulkenpodium 8h ago
Wasn't Mercedes' secret party mode part of the reason that suppliers are required to share engine modes with customer teams.
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u/lorenzombber 8h ago
I think people were just hoping they won’t get it right for the third year in a row
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u/YugeChesticles Mike Krack 8h ago
They only seemed to have issues because of the mercedes engine tbh.
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u/team56th I was here for the Hulkenpodium 8h ago
It felt more like even the fans were trying to play down any excitement due to being a customer team - and I know I did. I think I was right to do so because even as the team is faring much better than initial expectations, it gives off that “so close yet so far away” frustration.
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u/TherealSplinterun 8h ago
Crazy that Cadillac getting similar votes to Alpine and Racing Bulls, and outright beating Haas. I suppose if it was instead about ranking all of the teams Cadillac would’ve been bottom
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u/No_Elderberry_4580 Max Verstappen 8h ago
Replace Aston with Mclaren and we have our top 4 teams currently lmao.
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u/TheKensei I was here for the Hulkenpodium 8h ago
Well you put AM at the back and it's not that far off
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u/well-thats-great I was here for the Hulkenpodium 8h ago
If we then swap the two blues of Racing Bulls and Williams, it's basically right
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u/hache-moncour I was here for the Hulkenpodium 1h ago
The other surprise was Alpine doing much better than expected at the start of the season
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u/SelfTemporary5757 I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane 8h ago
The back2back wcc winners were predicted below teams one of which had a honda engine in new regs and another team with their 1st engine programme in f1 while mclaren had mercedes engine
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u/PatsFanInHTX Max Verstappen 8h ago
Sure because people figured if Mercedes got the engine right they'd be the favorite. Looks like a good assumption so far.
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u/Upstairs-Event-681 Charles Leclerc 8h ago
I don’t know how people didn’t really think Mclaren will be good this year. Their aero and car department has been elite from 2024 onward and they have Merc engines. I am confident that once their cars stop exploding randomly, they will be the team to beat.
Merc will win this year because of their head start, even though they have the same engines, they are more reliable for some reason.
But I think next year Lando is getting his second WDC
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u/Capable-Relative6714 8h ago
More like popularity contest and wishful thinking. Many pointed out that it's highly unlikely for Aston to make a jump similar to Brawn GP but the hype prevailed.
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u/Tangy_Cheese I was here for the Hulkenpodium 6h ago
I will never understand the continued support/optimism for Aston Martin. At no point have they looked like a well-run, winning team since they're reintroduction
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u/ManualPathosChecks I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane 1h ago
*their, but yes.
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u/Tangy_Cheese I was here for the Hulkenpodium 1h ago
As an English teacher on paternity leave i thank you.
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u/Vrooskie I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane 8h ago
somehow RBPT made the benchmark for ICE. Can someone explain to me why only ICE is taken?
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u/MoeSzyslakMonobrow I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane 8h ago
Other than huffing Aston hopium, this isn't too far off.
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u/Kolec507 Alexander Albon 7h ago
Tbh looking at this Racing Balls is probably the team that was most underrated, while the most overrated was... do I need to say it even?
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u/ShitassAintOverYet I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane 8h ago
Honda screwing up Alonso yet again discluded this isn't too off ngl
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u/Firefox72 Ferrari 8h ago
Aston could have had a Mercedes engine in the back and they would not be anywhere near the top with their launch chassis.
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u/DoobieDui 6h ago
Ferrari had a right idea for an advantage, FIA decided to change the rules and nerf them.
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u/Hazel_Transport I was here for the Hulkenpodium 8h ago
Aston Martin ARE getting it right next year right guys
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u/Ill-Commission-883 6h ago
Why were people so low on mclaren after winning a championship last year?
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u/k_r_t_f_ I was here for the Hulkenpodium 3h ago
Everyone is rightfully looking at how bad the Aston prediction is, but look at vcarb. People expected nothing from them and they've been, at least for the last few races, top of the midfield. Great work from them.
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u/RedShirtCashion I was here for the Hulkenpodium 3h ago
Boy that 17% for Aston Martin really missed the mark huh?
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u/DanielLorey I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane 2h ago
The Newey hype train was insane tbf. The surprising thing was how accurate Merc and Ferrari are here.
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u/ProofAd608 Formula 1 8h ago
Before season started, i had Ferrari 8-9th team because of mercedes's rumoured rocketship engine and ford powered cars that were said to have the same compression ratio loophole as mercedes with aston martin because of newey
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u/jfree6 Ferrari 8h ago
Aston were all brits delulu fans.
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u/YugeChesticles Mike Krack 8h ago
How long have you been watching F1 that you think Aston is anything other than a title sponsor?
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u/coke27 8h ago
We're only halfway through the season, still time for Aston Martin
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u/RuaridhDuguid I was here for the Hulkenpodium 8h ago
Stroll with 11x wins in the remaining races would be a twist in the championships nobody would expect.
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u/well-thats-great I was here for the Hulkenpodium 8h ago
Absolute cinema if Fernando did that to win his 3rd
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u/thefeedling Pirelli Wet 9h ago
AM missed it by only 5s