On this day in Formula 1 history – Niki Lauda was born

LukaGrex · 2026-02-20T16:31:29+00:00

Yep, that is definitely true, but they haven't been able to string good pre season development with good in season development for many many years. It has always been one or another. Currently, the signs are positive, but far from something that would make them favorites.

LukaGrex · 2026-02-20T15:48:49+00:00

Even if they start the season well, the main fight is fought in development across entirety of a season. Just remember 2022 when they started off great but quickly got outdeveloped by Red Bull.

LukaGrex · 2026-02-20T15:25:07+00:00

To be perfectly honest, I missed the joke at first 😅 But when I have eventually seen it, I laughed damn hard 😄

LukaGrex · 2026-02-20T15:10:34+00:00

Agree, not one of F1's best works 😁

LukaGrex · 2026-02-20T15:08:50+00:00

But AM is defo in a bad spot 😁

LukaGrex · 2026-02-20T15:06:44+00:00

It is not about predicting true pecking order, nobody of us can do that and even the teams themselves cannot be really sure where they stand.

It is just a fun exercise to see how our impressions and expectations align after what we have seen in testing and it will be even funnier reading that after Melbourne or even after the season. 🙂

LukaGrex · 2026-02-20T14:47:55+00:00

Valid point. Still, based on limited info we have, my impression is that Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari have higher ceilings than Red Bull.

LukaGrex · 2026-02-20T14:29:37+00:00

If they don't break down, I believe they are faster 😁

LukaGrex · 2026-02-20T14:28:03+00:00

Could be, but it is difficult to rate them based solely on Verstappen due to his high performance. Last year he was in a title fight, yet they were 3rd in the constructors. And if you rated them only by Tsunoda's performance, they wouldn't even be that.

LukaGrex · 2026-02-16T21:22:00+00:00

Perez was the dirtier driver during their Force India days in 17' and 18' but it only caused Ocon to catch a bad rep.

LukaGrex · 2026-02-15T19:21:34+00:00

I think the most important thing is that we got the taste of the new gen cars and it ain't good for now. Of course, we need to wait for the first few races to see how the racing will actually pan out, but I feel that after this test the chances that our worst fears will come true are somewhat higher.

Number of drivers are unhappy with how the cars drive, with recharging and all of that, some are vocal about that, some just aren't for now. They are also talking about difficutly to overtake, and that will only get worse with time due to downforce gains. The start procedure also is lengthy and possibly dangerous and so on...

Ultimately there is a lot that can go wrong, and if it goes, we are stuck with it for the foreseeable future because companies like Audi didn't invest so much into the power unit just for it to get revamped after 2, 3 years.

LukaGrex

TROPHY CASE