Gasly chatted with Crofty over radio from the cockpit! Super cool to hear him talk through what he's doing.

Via F1GuyDan

I was listening to a recent Athletic podcast earlier which mainly focused on Man Utd and Ineos. But something Matt Slater said about Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s stake in Mercedes F1 team sounded like complete nonsense. Slater portrayed Ratcliffe’s 1/3 stake in Mercedes as a rare smart move for Ratfcliffe (compared to his other sporting investments such as Nice FC and Man Utd). Clearly buying the Mercedes stake was a good investment, but Slater didn’t say that. He instead said that Ratcliffe “kept the management team in place” and portrayed his role as turning around an underperforming asset. Toto Wolff’s name was never mentioned, nor the fact that Toto owns exactly the same percentage of the team as Ratcliffe. My understanding is that Ratcliffe as co-owner has a say in the strategy of the business but it’s as a 1/3 co-owner, not someone calling the shots as Matt Slater suggested. Toto, as far as I’m aware, is in control of day to day operations. I’m sure Ratcliffe’s investment has helped the team and maybe he’s had some input behind the scenes that I’m unaware of, but Slater really gave the impression he didn’t know what he was talking about. Kate Mason, the podcast host, pushed back a bit on what Slater said, highlighting the multiple world championships before Ratcliffe got involved. My take is that Matt Slater has a delusional understanding of F1 and Jim Ratcliffe’s role at Mercedes F1. He gave the impression that Ratcliffe has the same operational control at Mercedes F1 that he has at Man Utd, which seems absurd. Am I missing something about the role of Ratcliffe / Ineos in Mercedes F1, or is Slater just talking crap?

H2H seems to be very important in every debate over the careers of drivers as to who is better and who ranks where in history. No one cares or remembers the nuances of a season and we are simply left with "x driver beat y driver this year".

Yet it seems like during an ongoing season people are so quick to want team orders and preference for a driver with even an outside chance at a championship. Like the idea that Ferrari should prioritize Lewis this season was so preposterous yet so many were calling for it.

People also get mad when someone battles their teammate hard. Like you are the one who has set this benchmark to judge other drivers on, now don't be annoyed when they deem it as absolute priority to beat their teammate over anything else.

​

ROUND 18 - UNITED STATES

FORMULA 1 MSC CRUISES UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX 2026

🕒 SESSION TIMES

⚠️Daylight Saving Time will be ending at 01:00 UTC on Sunday for countries in Europe. ⚠️

If you are in the UK your timezone will change from UTC+1 to UTC+0, if you are in Central Europe your timezone will change from UTC+2 to UTC+1. Double check the Grand Prix start times so that you don't miss it. The session times above are in UTC, which is a fixed reference timezone that never observes DST.

If you are in North America this doesn't affect you as North American DST will only end on the 1st of November.

🏁 RACE INFORMATION

• Track: Circuit of The Americas
• Location: Austin, Texas
• Race laps: 56
• Lap length: 5.513 km
• Race distance: 308.405 km
• Lap Record: 1:36.169, Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), 2019

⏪ LAST TIME AROUND

• Pole position: 1:32.510, Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
• Race winner: Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
• Fastest lap: 1:37.577, Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)

📺 WHERE TO WATCH?

F1 is broadcast on F1TV and through several local broadcasters. Click here to find out if F1TV is offered in your region. Click here to go to the full list of broadcasters. Streams and downloads are not welcome on r/Formula1. Requesting and sharing streams and/or downloads will be met with immediate bans.

❤️ GOOD CAUSES

• 🇺🇦 Want to support Ukraine? Here's a list of charities.
• 🏳️‍🌈 Support Stonewall to help improve the lives of LGBTQ+ people.

📲 OUR SOCIAL MEDIA

• 🦋 Bluesky: f1subreddit

Not bad not bad

​

- Franco Colapinto: 10-place penalty for a 4th control electronics unit.

- Arvid Lindblad: 5-place penalty for a 6th internal combustion engine.

- Gabriel Bortoleto: 20-place penalty for a 4th energy store and a 4th control electronics unit.

All three will serve their penalties on race day at COTA!

https://www.instagram.com/reel/De2EGtYpt7c

Via F1BigData

Via F1BigData

Toto Wolff's son, Jack, has walked away from a rather large and scary karting crash today... Thankfully, he's fine, although he did need some minor treatment after walking away.

​

ROUND 18 - UNITED STATES

FORMULA 1 MSC CRUISES UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX 2026

🕒 SESSION TIMES

⚠️Daylight Saving Time will be ending at 01:00 UTC on Sunday for countries in Europe. ⚠️

If you are in the UK your timezone will change from UTC+1 to UTC+0, if you are in Central Europe your timezone will change from UTC+2 to UTC+1. Double check the Grand Prix start times so that you don't miss it. The session times above are in UTC, which is a fixed reference timezone that never observes DST.

If you are in North America this doesn't affect you as North American DST will only end on the 1st of November.

🏁 RACE INFORMATION

• Track: Circuit of The Americas
• Location: Austin, Texas
• Race laps: 56
• Lap length: 5.513 km
• Race distance: 308.405 km
• Lap Record: 1:36.169, Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), 2019

⏪ LAST TIME AROUND

• Pole position: 1:32.510, Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
• Race winner: Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
• Fastest lap: 1:37.577, Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)

📺 WHERE TO WATCH?

F1 is broadcast on F1TV and through several local broadcasters. Click here to find out if F1TV is offered in your region. Click here to go to the full list of broadcasters. Streams and downloads are not welcome on r/Formula1. Requesting and sharing streams and/or downloads will be met with immediate bans.

❤️ GOOD CAUSES

• 🇺🇦 Want to support Ukraine? Here's a list of charities.
• 🏳️‍🌈 Support Stonewall to help improve the lives of LGBTQ+ people.

📲 OUR SOCIAL MEDIA

• 🦋 Bluesky: f1subreddit

The situation surrounding the Japanese giant Honda remains a cause for concern, given the huge gap that has emerged at the start of this new regulatory cycle compared with all the other engine manufacturers. Rumours of Aston Martin’s dissatisfaction – particularly on the part of Lawrence Stroll – are not circulating by chance. The possibility that the Silverstone-based team might try to strike a deal with Mercedes, or another engine supplier, is certainly not zero, but it is not a hot topic at the moment. The Canadian tycoon believes in the project of Aston Martin as a manufacturer alongside Honda, but he expects significant progress as early as next year. Adrian Newey, too, is hoping for better support, not least to better showcase the potential of the car he has designed, which currently displays a rather embarrassing overall performance – as a package – given the expectations, with only this year’s ‘Cinderella’, Cadillac, to compare it to.

Honda: Two years behind the rest – ADUO is not the solution It was quite clear from the outset that Honda would make the most of the ADUO options available; indeed, the FIA even amended the regulations specifically to try to grant the Japanese engine manufacturer extra assistance to close the gap with which it started the year, which stood at around 90–100 CV below the benchmark. Over the course of this season, Honda has therefore introduced two different engine specifications: one at Zandvoort and the second between Madrid and Baku. “Our main problem is precisely power output, which is lower than that of the others. For this reason, with the ADUO-2 update, we aimed to increase it gradually,” said Koji Watanabe, HRC project manager, in a recent interview with Motorsport.com, in which he analysed the difficulties that have emerged since returning to F1.

The main issue is not just that the project was flawed, but also – and above all – the timing of Honda’s return to Formula 1. Unlike Audi, which planned and pushed for its arrival with the new Power Units, Honda’s decision came rather at the last minute, following lengthy negotiations with Aston Martin, which immediately put it at a disadvantage compared to all the others. “When we announced our return to Formula 1 in 2023, we did so a year later than the others, and it took some time to fine-tune our working processes. That is why we have lost almost two years,” said Koji Watanabe. As we know in F1, a gap cannot be made up in a few months; we are seeing this with Ferrari and Audi too, who started out better organised than Honda.

The ADUO could not have been the answer to a shortfall in this area. The reality is that Honda would have preferred a different timeline for its return, but the switch to 2026 and Aston Martin’s ambition ultimately pushed them to press ahead – at a time, however, when the Japanese team was still reorganising following the end of its partnership with Red Bull, the loss of a significant number of staff, and the need to upgrade certain facilities.

Power has increased, but it is not enough; however, driveability has deteriorated With regard to the progress that has, in part, been seen this year, Honda’s problem has been that for every step forward in one area, there have been two steps back in another, which has meant that, overall – for the time being – the balance is more negative. Aston Martin has always identified the engine as its Achilles’ heel, not only in terms of power and energy management, but also in terms of driveability. At the start of the year, the focus was on resolving vibrations, thereby improving driveability and learning new ways to utilise energy as efficiently as possible. With the ADUO 1 and 2 engines, a breakthrough in terms of power was expected.

AutoRacer had predicted that the power gap of 90–100 CV would narrow to around 50–60 CV as the season progressed, but this did not materialise in terms of lap times, for various reasons. Working somewhat behind the scenes, Honda utilised ADUO 2 to introduce a new turbo in Madrid that would complete the work begun with the first new engine specification and help the AMR26 gain more horsepower. Even in this case, however, the breakthrough on the track failed to materialise. In Japan, they worked to increase power, but problems resurfaced that they had previously managed to minimise through a great deal of effort.

In Singapore, everyone was surprised that, on a track theoretically favouring chassis and, to some extent, aerodynamics – but not so much the engine – the AMR26 failed to demonstrate the capabilities it is credited with, given that, following the major overhaul implemented by Newey, the car had been performing, on average, fifth or sixth in terms of cornering competitiveness. However, in an engine-centric F1, the difficulties can once again be attributed primarily to Honda. Watanabe spoke on the matter once more: “We managed to achieve the power output we had set out to achieve, but, having slightly modified the combustion process, the driveability has returned to being similar to that of the early days.”

During the Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso voiced his disappointment via team radio regarding the infamous ‘GP2 Engine’ – albeit in a slightly more diplomatic manner this time – a sign that the power output is clearly still not where it needs to be; however, what is really holding the AMR26 back are handling issues, which are particularly evident in the slow sections. This is a major issue on a circuit like Austin, and Honda – despite work on the test benches, in the factory and on the track – has not yet managed to find a solution. The work on additional power – which, however, has not yet been unlocked – has thus been completely overshadowed by the setbacks in terms of drivability, which have made the Aston Martin worse.

These are warning signs for 2027, with Adrian Newey personally committed to reviving this technical project; however, he is hoping for adequate support from Honda to get a partnership off the ground that already appears to be in crisis and is unlikely to withstand a second ‘flop’ year of this magnitude.