Formula 1 talk.

[Bikeman315]

Just finished watching the sprint race. Boring as hell. This isn’t racing, it’s a class on battery management. I hope they make some changes or I might just be out of here. That said I enjoyed qualifying and Kimi getting his first P1.

Sponsored

 

[SCP440]

Agreed, the battery management has become the big thing. They need to reduce how much of the power is dictated by the battery and use it more of a boost just for overtaking.
On a plus there is a lot more overtaking.
Even the drivers dont seem to able to control it properly, Leclerc wasnt sure if he had wheelspin or a gearbox fault.
Formula E is even worse, the teams that qualify badly hang back through the race as the front runners are using there battery to stay up front and because the boys at the back have power left they can power through the field at the end of the race. Its not racing anymore.

 

[XeninWorX]

Those Ferraris can really stick to the corners. Once they get the straight line speed figured out it’ll be a good fight. I believe Kimi will get a win this year.

 

[sk47]

Verstappen slams 'joke' F1 rules in another tirade against new cars

Hello; just read the above link. Even if there are some sour grapes in Max's views I figure he is largely correct. I opposed the battery pack/ EV electric motor years ago when they drifted away from ICE only engines.
I hope to not have a need to study & understand the new battery charge & discharge rules. in the early going it seems MB has the best handle on the use of the system. I figure others will find the tricks.
Back in the good days of NASCAR Dale Earnhart knew bias ply tires. He was a master of a setup with those tires. After the change to radials he soon figured those out. Bias ply to radials made sense in NASCAR since road cars went to radials. I do not see an equivalent reason to keep a hybrid power system in F1.

i do not exactly know what the drivers have to fiddle with when racing. I get the impression it may be like playing a video game while driving a car at near 200 MPH. I do concede this relates to new road cars. The last 2026 Mustang GT I drove had a big touch screen upon which some critical functions must be handled while driving.

I want F1 to be an ICE engine. I would like the transmission to be manual but will not ask for that right away. Never mind.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Okay @sk47 and @Bikeman315, have at it. Clickbait war!!!

https://www.racefans.net/2026/03/19...rst-podium-for-ferrari-than-any-other-driver/

 

[Bikeman315]

Okay @sk47 and @Bikeman315, have at it. Clickbait war!!!

https://www.racefans.net/2026/03/19...rst-podium-for-ferrari-than-any-other-driver/

Nope. Blocked @sk47 a long long time ago!

 

[sk47]

Okay @sk47 and @Bikeman315, have at it. Clickbait war!!!

https://www.racefans.net/2026/03/19...rst-podium-for-ferrari-than-any-other-driver/

Hello; Not a surprise he has blocked me. Likely because I am sometimes critical of his favored driver.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

@sk47 Do you know a GOOD way to find when the delayed races will be broadcast on Roku Live TV?

Only way I know is to scroll thru the entire schedule for the channel you know it will be on in the Roku Live Channel guide. F1 delayed broadcasts are always on just one channel so that isn't a big chore. But I have to believe there is an easier way. I mean there are lots of channels, so if someone wants to watch Gunsmoke (for example) but doesn't know what channel(s) it might be on, it could take hours to scroll thru all the channels looking for episodes!

FYI China sprint is on at 10 AM MST today and the race is at 4PM MST today. I assume they will be aired other times as well.

 

[sk47]

@sk47 Do you know a GOOD way to find when the delayed races will be broadcast on Roku Live TV?

Only way I know is to scroll thru the entire schedule for the channel you know it will be on in the Roku Live Channel guide. F1 delayed broadcasts are always on just one channel so that isn't a big chore. But I have to believe there is an easier way. I mean there are lots of channels, so if someone wants to watch Gunsmoke (for example) but doesn't know what channel(s) it might be on, it could take hours to scroll thru all the channels looking for episodes!

FYI China sprint is on at 10 AM MST today and the race is at 4PM MST today. I assume they will be aired other times as well.

Hello; I do as you outlined. I search the F1 CHANNEL listing by scrolling days ahead. Last week being the first of the 2026 races to be rebroadcast the listing for last Friday was odd. let mee look. OK right now P1 is on from 8:38 AM to 10;09 AM (EST). Sprint at 1:05 to 2:13 PM. Qualyfing at 3:27 to 5:04 PM . China Race at 7:00 to 9:41 PM All EST.
The practices, sprints, races and other China stuff will be shown again over and over untill 2:41 -3:38 AM (EST) on Sunday morning. Then they plan to rebroadcast Australia 2026 again.

You might try the SEARCH on ROKU. I will try myself. The search generally is adequate but not always specific. There are pre-race, Post -race and tech shows mixed in. But you should get something. I did not use the search feature to find F1 CHANNEL on ROKU, I just happened to find it when playing with the subscription after I first got it.

During the early part of the week replays of past races are shown. I watched a 1981 race last night for example. Back then a disabled car was left on the side of the track.

NOTE: You can make the F1 Channel easier to find two ways. First is to find the channel menue and click back to the channel logo on the left. push the star button and select FAVORITE THIS CHANNEL. That way you will not have to scroll thru all the channels.
Another way is to use the SAVE feature for some programming. I just checked and do not think this works for what they call "livee TV" . I just checked my SAVED list and have 154 programs saved but not F1 CHANNEL.
However, when you go the WHAT TO WATCH selection there is a continue watching menu and the F1 CHANNEL showed up.

NOTE #2: Let me know if you discover a way to record the programming. I added the PLUTO streaming app and do find the F! Channel as part of the line up. I so far am using the limited features option. They offer the use of a DVR if I create an account. The account is free. Two things stopped me so far.
One being I do not think the "live TV" programs can be recorded. I have not tried so cannot say for sure.
The other being I get stumped at the part of signing in where they expect me to click OK to their agreement conditions. Thing is they do not show the terms, and I will have to get online and find it. I need to have paper & pen in hand to write down the online address.

 

[sk47]

You might try the SEARCH on ROKU. I will try myself. The search generally is adequate but not always specific.

Hello; I tried the SEARCH feature. All it did was show what is currently showing at the moment.

 

[sk47]

Hello; Spent some of today watching pre-race China shows. I begin to see an early pattern. MB has the new rules down best so far. Ferrari seems second best. Normally I would figure other teams might do better, but I do not if the other teams have fundamentally missed the mark and are stuck for the season.
I do not have anyone to realistically root for this year. I still like Alonzo but not much chance for him to do well.

I have enjoyed Max the last few years. Last year for the way he kept a lesser quality car in the mix up front. I do not know what is wrong with RB this year, but the way the two RB's qualified close to each other suggests that is the best the car is capable of.

I pretend LH is further lamenting leaving MB. Especially this year. Antonelli in his old seat on poll.

 

[sk47]

Hello; An unexpected advantage to watching on the ROKU F! Channel. I cannot record so have to sit thru the ads. There ae some technical spots mixed in with the ads. I learned about a change to the hybrid system.
The power from the battery is increased something like three times and now is nearly equal to the ICE in terms of power output. This information partly explains the difficulties.

My take is all the energy comes from the ICE engine overall during the race. The hybrid battery power unit gets kinetic energy charge during braking. There may be a way to charge the battery directly from the ICE, but such is not clear to me.

My second take is the power from the battery must be available only in short spurts. It is somewhat impressive that the battery can recharge so quickly, but it seems to go away quickly. In a way a Rube Goldburg machine. A too complicated way to do something.

The overtake part is something like the "push to pass" in Indy car but not limited in time.

I do like the close racing seen and wonder how much, if any, difference the hybrid change makes to the close racing. Are the other changes such as tire size & car size the more important?? Is the moveable front wing a big factor?

The new hybrid system is reported to be automatic. Meaning, to me, an AI/computer is doing some of the driving. Not necessarily like the fictional KIT of past TV days, but not 100% the human driver. I get, I think, that the driver gets to decide when to use the overtake feature but am not yet clear of other driver inputs.

Last thing is I do not think the intention was to have last season's championship team not on the grid. Watching from the pits.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Hello; An unexpected advantage to watching on the ROKU F! Channel. I cannot record so have to sit thru the ads. There ae some technical spots mixed in with the ads. I learned about a change to the hybrid system.

Another advantage over the previous "free" on ESPN: the commercials on Roku do not take the place of racing as live must. When commercials are over the racing picks up exactly where it was before the commercials.

And I was very annoyed watching F1 on a free trial of the paid service near end of last season when ESPN and YouTube TV were fighting over a new contract. Watching live you could not pause or back up to replay. You could only do that after the replay finally gets posted. So I wouldn't watch the races live now if I did subscribe to Apple TV with the F1 add on making it an even worse "deal".

 

[MAGS1]

https://www.espn.com/f1/story/_/id/...ng-f1-end-2026-report-world-champion-red-bull

 

[Yorkshire_OH]

https://www.espn.com/f1/story/_/id/...ng-f1-end-2026-report-world-champion-red-bull

Would be bad for the sport for sure. But there are many other avenues for him to excel at.

Sponsored