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Lack of penalty points this F1 season: Kinder Stewards or Drivers not balls out? by lkjohnson1950
[August 11, 2026, 03:51:44 AM]
Higher tyre pressures here to stay as F1 teams fail to agree change by John S
[August 09, 2026, 01:15:32 PM]
2026 Bahrain GP moving to a new track by Andy B
[August 07, 2026, 10:29:31 PM]
There really is an Ai problem with F1 cars this season by lkjohnson1950
[July 31, 2026, 06:17:09 PM]
Red Bull fighting Max silly season swap rumours with Big money extension offer by Jericoke
[July 31, 2026, 12:01:06 AM]

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From reading various articles I can only find 2 drivers, Antonelli & Colapinto, with penalty points lasting until 27, meaning they aquired them this year.
Not only is this a small total but they each have only 1 point hanging over til 27.

Have the Stewards really gone soft,  or perhaps an explanation is racing's not as hard or fully commited as in previous terms?
Do drivers now fear Stewards wrath with so many unpredictable penalty decisions in past seasons? 

Another reason may be the blasted cars this year with the real masters being team set Ai and not necessarily the pilots. 

Strange though, IMHO, with various winners of GPs and seemingly a good fight between teams that drivers seem to have lost killer/agressive/go for gap streak of past seasons, is that a good or bad thing? 

What does anyone else think?

Yet another issue drivers are repeatedly complaining about this season, high mandated tyre pressures, cannot be reset for this season as too many teams put individual doubts ahead of big picture for improved racing. 

The Race.com explains below why safety measure limits Pirelli's ability to drop pressures.

https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-teams-rejected-fix-big-2026-driver-complaint-balloon-tyres/

1.5 liters of raspy V8 60+ years on. Volume is in the upper left corner.

https://www.facebook.com/reel/3533734613444332

Q - How to keep your star driver when he's looking elsewhere?

A - A whopping great payday with a no quit clause! - Well that seems to be what the Bulls are offering.

What we know of Max is this enough to keep him happy? 
I'm sure his manager & father will prefer the dollars. 

https://f1i.com/news/570254-red-bull-reportedly-offers-verstappen-big-money-contract-extension.html

There are talks of FIFA selling a share in the World Cup to outside investors for something like $20 billion.  It sounds absurd, but I suppose it's not all different from FIA and FOM controlling different parts of F1.

Personally, I think it's a terrible idea, I don't see the upside (aside from rich people getting richer).  FOM has done a great job of making money lately, but I do feel like there's too many times when FOM and FIA are at odds of what's best for the sport.  One body makes sense to me.

In ice hockey there is the IIHF, and the NHL.  IIHF events are rarely 'big money makers' (World Championships, Olympics), where NHL controlled international events are often exciting events with a lot of attention (Canada Cup, World Cup, Four Nations).   (The NHL has no formal affiliation with the IIHF.  Though they often cooperate because the IIHF will sanction events and the NHL has to release the top players to play.  They do play by different rule sets, which collided hilariously in this year's winter Olympics with the rink built to the IIHF dimension in length, but the NHL dimension in width.)

Main issue seems to be Software that learns lap to lap, if individual drivers have poor or different laps Ai doesn't quite improve things it simply learns about what has happened and tries to make nonsense of it.
That's the view of Oscar Piastri in this piece below from F1chronicle.com.

Oscar Piastri has vented his frustration at Formula 1’s power unit software, saying qualifying grids are increasingly being “decided by computers behaving or misbehaving” rather than pure driving performance.

The McLaren driver’s comments followed a difficult Belgian Grand Prix weekend in which he qualified seventh, three places behind teammate Lando Norris, a result he felt did not reflect matching Norris through the corners at Spa-Francorchamps.

“It sucks. I can’t really say it any other way than that,” Piastri said of how heavily the electrical side of the 2026 power units now shapes results. “When you’ve got qualifying grids decided by computers behaving or misbehaving, it’s a pretty crap way of going racing.”

Piastri was far from alone in raising the issue at Spa-Francorchamps, the most power sensitive circuit on the 2026 calendar given its long flat out sections. George Russell blamed Mercedes after his car was drained of battery almost immediately at the start of the race, contributing to a first lap crash, while Max Verstappen, F1’s most vocal critic of the new engine rules all season, could not resist another dig after finishing third.

For Piastri, the frustration was less about the result and more about the lack of clarity behind it. “I certainly wouldn’t have been the only person,” he said. “I know George has had a lot of issues with that this weekend, and maybe the last couple of weekends. And speaking to some others, it’s a similar story.

“Here it’s obviously exaggerated a lot and made worse, but yeah, when you come in from a qualifying session, you look at all the corners and go, ‘I’m on par with my teammate and yet I’m two tenths behind at the end of it.’ It’s not a very nice feeling.”

The 2026 power units run software capable of adjusting energy deployment in real time, learning from data gathered on previous laps of a circuit. A shift in wind direction or a handful of other variables outside a driver’s control can leave two near identical cars with noticeably different power outputs from one lap to the next.

Charles Leclerc, who finished second at Spa, described wrestling with the same unpredictability through practice and qualifying. “These power units are so complex that there are some days when you scratch your head trying to understand why you are losing so much on the straights. That was a bit the case for me on Friday and in FP3.

“Then, in qualifying, things went well again by slightly fine-tuning things. It’s just very difficult, but also very frustrating sometimes for a driver because, even when you are doing your best, there are things in the background that change constantly, and that’s not so nice.”

Above paras courtesy Jarrod Partridge, F1chronicle.com, 23rd July 26.

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/formula-1-and-fia-confirm-malaysia-will-join-2026-calendar-as-host-venue-for-bahrain-grand-prix.6lL7vjFEM2VVynRHvg1TCf

The Bahrain Grand Prix won't be run at the Bahrain International Circuit this year.  Instead they've moved it a few KM to the east at an old circuit called the Sepang International Circuit.  You may be familiar with Sepang as the former host of the Malaysian Grand Prix.  Both tracks were laid out by Hermann Tilke.

Despite the race being held in Malaysia, it will still be called the Bahrain Grand Prix.  It isn't unheard of for national races to be run in other countries.  For example, the San Marino Grand Prix was only ever held in Italy and the Luxembourg Grand Prix was held in Germany.

If you have a spare 9 million or so laying around, you could own one of 3 original Eagle Weslake F1 cars. Often included as one of if not the most beautiful F1 car of all time, Chassis 103 was driven in period by Dan himself as well as other drivers from Anglo American Racing.

https://www.ultimatecarpage.com/chassis/777/Eagle-Mark-1-Weslake-103.html

	BRM ahead of Goodwood anniversary [Fun Videos]	lkjohnson1950 August 11, 2026, 11:54:01 PM
	Lack of penalty points this F1 season: Kinder Stewards or Drivers not balls out? [General F1 Discussion]	lkjohnson1950 August 11, 2026, 03:51:44 AM
	Higher tyre pressures here to stay as F1 teams fail to agree change [General F1 Discussion]	John S August 09, 2026, 01:15:32 PM
	2026 Bahrain GP moving to a new track [General F1 Discussion]	Andy B August 07, 2026, 10:29:31 PM
	There really is an Ai problem with F1 cars this season [General F1 Discussion]	lkjohnson1950 July 31, 2026, 06:17:09 PM
	Red Bull fighting Max silly season swap rumours with Big money extension offer [F1 Drivers]	Jericoke July 31, 2026, 12:01:06 AM
	FIFA to Spin Off the World Cup? [Other Sports]	Jericoke July 29, 2026, 09:54:41 PM
	Monaco Grand Prix [F1 Grid Game]	Alianora La Canta July 27, 2026, 06:54:02 PM

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