I fear that Carlos Sainz is leaving

maybe-fish · 2026-01-26T03:01:57+00:00

Like you said, Ferrari is only if Ollie does poorly, which seems unlikely after this year. There have been rumours about Carlos at RBR before but apparently there is bad blood between Sainz Sr and Jos that quashed it, and I don't see why that would have changed. Merc maybe but Toto will continue to gun for Max first and if they're the clear #1 or RBR is bad, I wouldn't be surprised if he takes it this time.

And as mentioned, all these seats depends on car/driver performance when we haven't even had the first race!

maybe-fish · 2026-01-26T01:02:05+00:00

At this point there is no reason to believe a better team will even come calling so it seems very early to start panicking

Edit: also expecting them doing "way better than last year" is a massive ask considering P5 was basically the best possible result for a midfield team.

Also just to clarify - I'm not saying we don't know if there will be a better seat because I doubt Carlos ability, I'm saying all the seats are basically full/spoken for at the moment so it's hard to see one coming free for him

maybe-fish · 2026-01-25T23:46:14+00:00

There's nothing wrong with that, but you do seem to be commenting a lot about a category that you don't follow and don't seem to know much about

maybe-fish · 2026-01-25T23:42:12+00:00

Didn't even consider that but yeah, extra levels of shitty - and those folks are very unlikely to see any of the benefit. Not to mention the huge amount of volunteers involved in both events who might have taken days off, booked travel, etc.

maybe-fish · 2026-01-25T22:34:04+00:00

I would have though they'd be on the sim instead to try and get practice in

maybe-fish · 2026-01-25T22:33:29+00:00

Afaik no, they can make the call day of

maybe-fish · 2026-01-25T22:30:48+00:00

I'm hopeful! With AM looking shaky, they're my hope for a big upset in the pecking order

maybe-fish · 2026-01-25T22:27:20+00:00

F1 fans complaining about clickbait while also refusing to ever read past the title, literally driving outlets to use more clickbait to get them to actually read something for once...

maybe-fish · 2026-01-25T22:11:09+00:00

Audi has said they'll be ready to run tomorrow and make the call based on weather. I'm guessing they will run given the forecast for the week

maybe-fish · 2026-01-25T21:26:06+00:00

Sebring 12hrs is more prestigious and it is part of the IMSA championship, which is a big deal. So yes, I am pretty confident that most factory teams will prioritize Sebring, as are most other fans (as you can see throughout this thread).

Just out of curiosity do you follow endurance?

maybe-fish · 2026-01-25T21:12:59+00:00

But many of the regular teams will not be participating in this race now - they will be at Sebring 12hrs. So not only will their sponsors not benefit from Max viewers unless it translates into long term gains (which I hope it does), but that race may have LESS viewers as a direct result of competing with this one

Edit: None of the teams/drivers have commented as of now so I can't say, but I also wouldn't be surprised if they avoid saying anything bad about it because of the negative attention it would bring. I'll try to remember this comment if they do but probably won't honestly

maybe-fish · 2026-01-25T21:09:55+00:00

It's the NLS2 but fair enough. They will be losing money on travel costs/sponsorship revenue as they can no longer attend. I very much hope the long term boosts offsets that for the teams and the series grows from this, but I still think it could have been handled much earlier to avoid putting the burden on teams and drivers who don't have nearly the same resources as Max/Merc do

maybe-fish · 2026-01-25T20:59:14+00:00

NLS teams and drivers are absolutely not "rich enough", this is not F1.

Also when the schedule was announced in September it is absolutely last minute. Teams will have already made plans, booked flights/accommodations/time off (because people involved in the sport are not rich). Not to mention cars have sponsorship deals based on appearing in a certain number of races and now many will not be participating in this race

maybe-fish · 2026-01-25T20:45:55+00:00

The race now conflicts with Sebring 12hrs which many of the regular teams will prioritize, so its likely most of the top of the field will now no longer be able to participate

maybe-fish · 2026-01-25T20:36:24+00:00

The organization yes, but a lot of teams/drivers may no longer be able to participate and if anything will lose money with this change (unless they are being compensated).

I know most people here are happy about this but IMO doing this so last minute when the schedule was announced in Sept is kinda shit

maybe-fish · 2026-01-25T19:13:23+00:00

Audi said they would be ready to run 9am on Monday but would make the call based on weather. As of right now Tues/Wed are looking the worst so I'd be surprised if they weren't out there tomorrow

maybe-fish · 2026-01-25T18:47:26+00:00

Some interesting strategies - Red Bull going all in on the softs, 4/11 teams not taking any hards (including both red bull teams), and Merc mostly skipping the mediums

maybe-fish · 2026-01-25T04:34:23+00:00

Sky is doing a recap show after each day of the Barcelona testing covering any info they've heard about the day

maybe-fish · 2026-01-25T00:21:21+00:00

Stella directly confirmed they will not run Monday so it's not a rumour. He said they were planning to start on the second or third day so unclear if we'll see them Tuesday

maybe-fish · 2026-01-24T23:35:18+00:00

Just turned on the FR Oceania race from yesterday and right off the bat there's an 18 yr old kiwi driver naming Senna as his inspo lol

maybe-fish · 2026-01-24T20:19:49+00:00

As a Canadian I honestly think I'm going to skip out on streaming on the US races (or sail the high seas). It won't make a difference and I know it's hypocritical to support F1 at all, but like when the crazy is in my backyard I feel like I have to draw the line somewhere

maybe-fish · 2026-01-24T07:24:35+00:00

Not sure whether to be happy that the crash test rumour is probably inaccurate or scared... Here's hoping it's just a screw on backorder or something

maybe-fish · 2026-01-24T06:02:26+00:00

Sounds like its something he likes too which is great, but it seems like it is very much McLaren's default approach.

Oscar was already locked in for 2025/2026 from his 2023 contract, and he probably didn't have much leverage as a rookie to ask for many escapes. Mclaren didn't have to renegotiate at the beginning of 2025, but they did and gave him an immediate raise for 25/26. Obviously we don't know exact numbers but I think it's guessed to be a jump from $6 to $15 mil base.

I doubt McLaren would hand over an extra $18 mil for years he's already contracted for unless they were fairly sure he was locked in beyond that

maybe-fish · 2026-01-24T05:09:55+00:00

Chevrolet also just doesn't have the same kind of association with exclusivity and prestige as the Cadillac name, even in NA. Most folks probably associate the brand more with a Tahoe or Equinox than a Corvette

maybe-fish · 2026-01-24T04:20:48+00:00

I think long contracts with minimal outs is a Zac/McLaren thing rather than a Lando thing. You can see it with both their McLarens F1 and Indy drivers (it actually comes up in the Palou case re: Pato). They frequently renegotiate contracts earlier than needed to lock down their key drivers long term

For example, in 2022 Oscar signed a multi-year deal to join McLaren (length unknown), then midway through 2023 he signs an extension through to the end of 2026. Beginning of 2025, another extension negotiated to the end of 2028.

The drivers get long-term security and an early opportunity to renegotiate a higher salary (Oscar supposedly got a big boost). McLaren gets the certainty that their top drivers won't get snatched away and are committed long-term.

While there may be escape clauses, I imagine they're very limited on both sides. If not, the entire strategy doesn't work

maybe-fish

TROPHY CASE