F1 2026’s First Day Was Weirdly Revealing

0:00What are you going to do tonight? Let it be, what's your action plan? What you've got to do tonight? Let it be, action plan What you've got to do tonight Take it away, Jordan Come on, come on Let's go Up and down All no matter It's easy Take off all of life We have all good of you It's finally off on the road Catch you all He's about to fly around Hey, when are you getting ready? The hustle doesn't have to hurt If performance pressure is making it hard to breathe

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3:09So the best question we can ask right now is which teams exceeded matched and fell below expectations After all the weeks of testing to go over But one thing that definitely exceeded my expectations is that the cars didn't look slow overall The show didn't look all that jarring and yes on my social media feeds I have seen countless engineers lamenting the fact that these cars cannot go well in high-speed corners They have to downshift and the like, but to the regular punter in comparison to 2014 It looks a lot smoother on first glance and it did back then Back then there was nowhere to hide For me the one looked bad, it sounded bad, it felt bad And what didn't help is that one team was ruling the show Whereas right now the cars sound absolutely fine mostly The reliability is pretty decent, understandably a bit shaky And the field spread isn't that disastrous if you just push Aston Martin into the corner Which is quite frankly I think where Adrian would want to put their car right now in the corner

4:10And also in terms of competition there are quite a few drivers vying for our attention Oscar Piastry mug boy He came on strong, he definitely looked six foot four and full of muscle Yes those who fell below expectations and Alpine I'm not going to lie That was probably one of the biggest shockers in my mind Because after testing they looked fairly decent One of the best to take on the best of the rest mantle But what happened here? Given that Mercedes were bringing a fresh unit for Melbourne This would have just made their focus on the chassis development look all the wiser Instead we got two very downbeat free practice sessions With the only highlight or more low light Being Franco Collapinto getting into a tango with Lewis Hamilton down the straight Him remaining on the racing line when going slowly Even though no further action was taken by the stewards It still caught many people's attention And many critics of Franco will be just pointing at him and demanding he be thrown out of the sport Even though the stewards basically said no no don't worry about it We're not taking any further action here He claimed he had an eye issue he picked up late in FP2 Due to dry ice and dust being flipped up into his helmet

5:10And whilst it wasn't serious he said it is something to note He also stressed the team was able to complete 53 laps in practice Gathering useful information to study overnight It does soften the blur a bit but it did still show the team looked uncomfortable with their car They hadn't fully switched it on yet They were stuck low in both sessions which is very disappointing given pre weekend hopes And when you really look at it they weren't showing true pace under the hood I either wore us other teams were starting to get on top of their gremlins and start to turn up the wick a little bit Alpine were left relatively stuck in neutral They might be able to switch things up a gear in the form of some time in the next few races It's still something that makes me have the phone without regarding Alpine already And I can easily imagine Flavio is having a few choice words behind the scenes about it That being said I don't think the car is broken or bad or anything like that I just think it's not really looking convincing right now This could easily change once they get things dialed in Changing themselves from being a works team to a customer team

6:10It does come with some growing pains and all Yeah, ungrowing pains caused me Hopefully for their sake the car comes alive on Saturday morning in time for them doing their cally sims Another team that well below expectations were Williams They're simply here because the day never really got going properly Yeah, given their perceived weight issue They weren't going to be near the top of the table But what didn't really help was that car science lost most of FP2 due to a technical problem And in round one that kind of lost running hurts more than usual because every lap is still teaching the team something new And if you read every single interview up and down the grid that's pretty much what everyone's been saying That this is the start of a new era, a today one there's still a lot to learn So that's not really a surprise but for Williams Yeah, their running was very disjointed Yeah, they did get some in and there might be some run for improvement There's not near the bottom but nor are they really looking capable of scoring points unless there's a huge cataclysm at the front They're not looking likely to be punching above their weight in the midfield which is I want to be considering their problem

7:10Be pegging them 7th or 8th in the standings it checks out still Friday just looked really really defensive for this team as in they were just trying to get things done Trying to get some meaningful lap time in but were really just coming up short I'm not going to be just coughing doom over this team because after all James Val said that the real championship credentials will come in 2028 But given so much time and effort was put into this car This is just looking really disappointing in my opinion because last year just looked so good And this Friday just simply gave them nothing to try and give them any hopes of maybe getting a cheeky piece in You know an absence of proper knowledge to really give them any encouragement that's it Yes, I am putting in here next Cadillac but only barely so he me out The team's tone after Friday was calmer than the times alone would suggest Their team principal Graham Loudon said the goal was simply just to start racing on a hectic first day And that's quite revealing in my opinion sure they did have some reliability problems including using wing mirrors

8:12And check out really had a bad time of it in fp2 But the way that the team is grading itself right now is more to do with execution rather than on pure pace alone Because let's be real we were not expecting them to be anywhere near scoring points or even getting themselves out of the 10th or 11th conversation But nevertheless the way they were carrying themselves out just simply looked competent They were just getting on with the job they turned up they got on with it and whilst they did look slow They were just plodding along like nobody's business And especially given that Melbourne's the first race weekend that this team has ever experienced They really just got to try and get their iron and they really didn't disappoint or embarrass anyone while they were doing it Quite frankly I think they did all right and yes they are four seconds behind the leaders But neither do I think they are going to be troubling the 107% limit in qualifying They will be very much near the back but they will be equally buoyant with the fact that they really managed to get here And what was even better for Valtteri is at his five place grip penalty from Abu Dhabi 2024

9:12He doesn't have to serve it even though it probably wouldn't really have made much difference given where the team is right now But I don't think boss ass will care this is just really nice to know So I think the best way to assess Cadillac here is that they simply just didn't drown Yet they did look like a newcomer learning the choreography under a lot of fire because well this is a brand new regulation cycle Instacart understands that not all bananas are created equal Some people want them green, some people want them ripe, some people want them ready right now With Instacart's preference picker now available at most retailers you can choose how you like certain items Like banana ripeness, deli thickness, even avocados before your shopper even starts So instead of crossing your fingers and hoping for the best you get groceries picked the way you would pick them It's a small thing but it makes a big difference Download the app and get bananas just how you like with Instacart Instacart makes grocery shopping easier and just because you're not doing the shopping yourself doesn't mean you don't care how it's done

10:14With Instacart's shopper notes you can get particular about what you want right in the app Like rotisserie chicken that's extra crispy Stake with marbling the Romans would have loved and lettuce you'd actually pick yourself Just leave a note for your shopper so that they can get it right for you without having to ask That way you can get groceries just how you like Download the Instacart app and shop today And also to be fair the worst thing that a brand new team can do is that they're completely lost Which is what Aston Martin looks like right now And speaking of Aston Martin this leads me on to the teams that matched expectations And you have you thinking Lord why are you putting Aston Martin here? Surely they should be in the below expectations Surely they should have started this whole video off Well I am being a little bit more big here and given the last few weeks that Aston Martin's had to endure Then matching expectations Yeah that's just about right I mean it's been just one disastrous presser after another

11:15It's just not stopped They are a team that looks in genuine distress They just do not know what to do right now quite frankly I think the Adrian Ewing company which is simply rather just fade into obscurity Just melt right here and then not have to do the Australian Grand Prix at all But through contractual obligations and the Concord Agreement They have no choice but to do so A hundred and seven percent limit I don't think they care about that if they fell foul of it I don't think they're going to protest it to try and compete on Sunday If they fail to make that threshold Which I really think Lance might for a Fernando It's mononats wing whether or not I don't think they'll mind I think they'll just go home They've had serious Honda Power Unit integration issues and the battery They only got two usable ones at the circuit If they go, that's there we can done on the spot And most Fernando's done is damnedest To sound like the most giga of giga chads out there in the universe Brushing off concerns of physical safety Newly openly called the situation scary

12:15Saying again, they were really down to the bare bones When it came to supplies This weekend is just a matter of survival They got a car that's basically half blind A team already trapped in damaged limitation cycles And reportedly a major fix may not come for the Chinese Grand Prix It could take up to two months And then all of the other revelations that Adrian decided to dump on all of us That Honda were vastly understaffed That Aston had not checked on the soccer plant Until Andy Keller arrived last November To find all of this was going on Why didn't Aston check sooner? Why didn't Honda admit that there was a staffing problem earlier to them? If there is anybody that we should be blaming right now It's those board of directors at Honda That signed up on the proposition To pull out a formula one after 2021 That's why Honda is in the situation right now But yeah, okay All right, okay Natcheting expectations We've got to talk about Ferrari

13:15Because you might be thinking Clearly, we all pegged them to be the best after testing And they are still pretty much right up there now And it certainly helped that formula one gatham That glamour shot with the Claire and Hamilton Capping off the one to slot after last year being such a bad year for them This was welcome news for the Toasty It must have been And FP2 kept both cars near the front too Even as the order did compress And Mercedes did show their hand as well as Oscar Piastry That being said, Ferrari's Friday did make them look a little less dominant Than they did around Bahrain and Barcelona But certainly not weaker in any worrying sense The car still looks quick and stable It looks complete, fully involved in a top tier fight The simplest way to put it is that Ferrari did anything that a title contender should do Just get on with the jobs, show no major problem Present themselves in a reliable fashion With all of the innovations that they've been presenting to us Including a little flap above the exhaust and the macarena wing And then I saw this based on reports They might, on their brand new steering wheel Have something akin to a virtual mirror

14:16As in maybe access to one of the camera feeds at the back or on the sides To try and make sure they're off to a good start Because if their starts are electric They are going to really need to know Whether or not they're about to run into someone or somebody's really on their tail I would say they're fairly rated here We all expected them to be near the top and well nothing's really changed Then there is Red Bull And the core consensus around the team hasn't really shifted honestly I mean if you have to be nitpicky They don't look quite as polished as say Mercedes or Ferrari And McLaren's given them a bit of a scoop too But make no mistake They are still definitely part of the big four Max was right there in the mix And the team's pace was never really in doubt But the overall feel was slightly less refined than it was in testing That doesn't need trouble though It simply meant that Friday looked a touch less refined than their competition But for Ford I think they could still be happy with what they got Especially in a new rule cycle Where there is a difference between being quick and being settled I will admit they did look more like the former than the latter I wouldn't call this a disaster

15:17Anything because Red Bull's got a tendency to start off a little bit on the back foot But then come on really strong as practice progresses So I don't really think there is all doom and gloom to be had Or max for saffon being totally out of the podium conversation Because well he was P3 in Fp1 And even though Mercedes did turn up A top five finish I pegged him for fourth place in my predictions It's certainly justifiable And what I would also like to point out Is that the second Red Bull car looked closer to this happen than many expected Maybe the Red Bull curse might be started to lift after all And if that is true, emphasis on the if here This might be one of the sneakiest stories of the weekend That Izakadja might not be completely lost at sea Miles behind Max No, no, no, no, however Whilst Izak being closer to Max may change the overall look of the rent ball racing senior team project We also have to look what happened at racing balls Because they blew many out of the water Arvid right on Izak's tail

16:17He probably gave Hajar a bit of a spook But I'll talk more about Limblad later Either way, I think Red Bull are still in control of their project Considering that everyone thought that four power trains is Red Bull project was going to be lost at sea And completely bar behind everyone else Maybe down in the midfield This is still exceeding expectations But after what we got in testing I would certainly limit that to just saying Yep, yep, I think that reads And then we got house, yep This still pretty much feels like the same as we saw in testing Yes, they're not part of the big four But they're certainly making a strong case for them being one of the most competent and stable platforms within the midfield I certainly did think that they would start off things strong And it would mainly be up to how much they can develop What with their technical partnership with Toyota Gathering more traction over the winter And the lack of major post FP2 noise around them Definitely reinforces that Yes, they didn't have the sparkle of Arvid Limblad from racing balls Or the poise of Audi But they also avoided obvious gloom around them And in the weekend with so much attention has gone to front runners

17:18As well as the rookie and reliability issues They has just basically existed in a reasonably useful way Then right in the middle of FP2, P10 and 11 respectively That may sound like faint praise but for the first race of the season Starting this strong could be very important morale wise They were ordinary rather than exciting And I think for I'll come out to this team That is more than enough That's all they need to be Formula 1's smallest team They just need to get on with the job And be the most likely candidates To maybe sniff at the chance of the P9 or a P10 Yes, it's just a point or two So within the midfield, considering there is quite a big gap between the top four And then the next four That whose points could be very very important And also it really helps that the car didn't look like it was trying to eat itself Or anything like that or beat itself up It just got on with the job It's very boring but for hast, boring is a-okay They looked competent And on the first Friday of the year, Competence is very sexy right now

18:19But it's not quite as gorgeous as exceeding expectations And wasting both my goodness Hello, Arvid Limblad I thought they'd be ninth best but they are the team that looks like Friday's biggest surprise Two solid sessions from both cars With the Rookie leading the charge Fifth in FP1 and eighth in FP2 A head of Hajar in FP2 As well as also giving Georgia a bit of a spook in the pit lane But as Arvid's engineer pointed out He did have priority as he was in the fast lane But in any case, the practice itself was enough to suggest the team Has a ripe with a car that already feels usable rather than fragile Certainly more potent than it looked in testing When its long runs according to many punters We didn't inspire encouragement that they were able to justify continuing What they were able to do last year In getting P6 in the constructors Now though, I think the tide has changed Also, a Rookie that can look this composed This quickly is definitely going to capture many people's interests

19:19And given the propensity to British buyers across Formula One media The fact that Arvid's a Brit That's only going to stoke the fires even more And I can easily imagine that Christian Horner back at his Oxfordshire base Will be sipping a glass of whiskey Looking at what happened in practice and going We all prefer things a certain way Like groceries If you want groceries just how you like them You gotta try Instacart They have a new preference picker that lets you pick How ripe or unripe you want your bananas Shoppers can see your preferences up front helping guide their choices Because when it comes to groceries the details matter Instacart Get groceries just how you like The hustle doesn't have to hurt If performance pressure is making it hard to breathe Growth therapy helps you navigate stress, set boundaries And actually feel like yourself again Whether it's your first time in therapy or your 50th Growth makes it easier to find a therapist who fits you Not the other way around You can search by what matters

20:19Like insurance, specialty, identity or availability And get started in as little as two days There are no subscriptions, no long term commitments You just pay per session Growth helps you find therapy on your time Whatever challenges you're facing Growth therapy is here to help Growth accepts over 100 insurance plans Including Medicaid in some states Sessions average about $21 with insurance And some pay as little as $0 depending on their plan Visit growththerapy.com Slash start now to get started That's growtherapy.com Slash start now Growtherapy.com Slash start now Availability and coverage vary by state and insurance plan Yeah, go on over there That's my boy, so much for And it wouldn't surprise me at all If you had a little bit of a chuckle With that George Arvid tangle And Blimey just turned into me But yes, I think him being new to the sport And not having to think about 2025 Him not really getting any big runs To the amount that he's had during testing

21:19And now pre-practice That might stand him in good stead But I will err on the side of caution a little bit Because racing balls They are very much trying to temper Their own expectations They don't want to get carried away too early Which is quite sensible Because things might not translate fully towards Q1 But still, relative expectation This was a really good proper statement day Then, good news for me Audi belongs in the overachievement group too Though in a more discreet way than racing balls or has Both cars made the top 10 in FE1 And even though FP2 saw them out of the top 10 They still looked tidy and reasonably comfortable As the 6th or 7th best team I hear you that might not exactly sound inspiring But like with has, just simply being competent Is absolute gold dust Sexy to them The likes of Mathieu, Benotto and Jonathan Weekly They were sour but ultimately The 9th best team of 2025 And then they can start off, say, the 7th best Or if alping really a fall off Maybe in contention for the 6th best

22:20That is a really strong platform For what would be otherwise their 5 year planet They can start off this good Or at least this solidly Then who knows what may happen in 2027 and beyond They have shown evidence that they are looking like Adults in the room Even though this is their first race as a proper Works operation Audi's first race in Formula One And yes, I know you'll be just getting the spanner out And the phone out saying that Well hang on a minute, this is still salva Well, as they have demonstrated over the winter The amount of resources and development they've been able to crew This is not the same salva outfit that we saw In green and black last year The true heft of Audi is being shown right now And yes, I am biased But come on, I am really proud of this organisation After the progression of the winter Being in the conversation for points in their first race That's a really good sort The card doesn't really seem to be scaring the team or wasting chances either This gives them the look of a squad That's built a same package They can only continue to go up from here Yeah, they're not a big points threat or a podium threat

23:21But they look more settled than many thought they would This I think will please them to no end And if they can get a cheeky 10th place for their trouble That will just be the icing on the cake Then I've got Mercedes They slightly exceeded expectations from me And you might be thinking, oh come off it law We've all been talking about them being the favours But you couldn't remember Bathrain testing did show that they had some reliability issues They had squeaky bum time regarding getting their fuel homologated Which by the way I will update and say they did get that done with patroness in the 11th hour So they are running the proper juice as are their customers And the customers have also got their own spec of car And yes, FP1 did get off to a bit of a tricky start with them 7th and 8th But then come FP2 They showed their hand properly With them behind, yes, the McLaren of Piastry But ahead of the two Ferrari's second and third But what really struck me or didn't strike me Is that it was Antonelli A head of Russell Second was Kimmy And I will think we'll see plenty more of his now infamous case sign

24:21And Mercedes did admit that he had snagging and teeding troubles in FP1 And that FP2 did go much smoother The drivers happier about the car's balance and the deployment and energy management And once that was sorted, the car did have real pace once that early clutter was cleared away And the team were more inclined to take sandbags off of their cars That maybe the W17 is quite understandable and not overly spiteful And I think Kimmy will get along with these regulations just fine But I still wouldn't crown the Mercedes the clear benchmark just yet But I certainly do think Friday has shown us that they have one of the cleanest and most drivable packages on the grid And it's not really showing any problems And whilst there might be some question marks regarding reliability They are not showing themselves right now That they are very much in contention for the victory this weekend That is until McLaren showed their hands too With them having the same spec of Mercedes car unit because not bad at all McLaren You very much underbaked in preseason testing But now, thanks to the morale boosting efforts of being the hometown hero

25:21Oscar Piastry led the charge in FP2 But that being said, it was a bit of a lopsided day for them when you look at it when especially what Lando Norris was going through And Piastry had a rough FP1 as well but he did come back swinging for the second session And it certainly would help McLaren fans that his post FP2 comments make clear that the car does have pace Especially now with that new engine But the team is still learning things pretty quickly And to me that does check out with previous years where they started off behind the best But would develop their way into contention and maybe domination The Australian describing FP2 in particular as much smoother and stressed that there are still many things to get to grips with Which sounds exactly like a front running team trying not to fall in love with itself after one good Friday On the other side of the garage though, Lando wasn't exactly as chirpy And it would make perfect sense because in FP1 he barely got out there at all He had reliability problems of his own And yes, it would have meant that he was behind the likes of Oscar and FP2 So in the second session, he'd be nice to get a decent amount of laps on the board He was still quite some ways behind Piazry

26:23That is not a full gone conclusion as to whether or not he is going to be absolutely licked by the Australian But it's certainly not the best of starts at a time and practice session where you really need to be hitting the ground running And right now, Oscar is showing that he is quite capable of adapting to these regulations Even though in a previous interview, Oscar said that he's had to forget everything he's learned in the past 15 years regarding motor racing You know, an existential shift, some drivers may be able to adapt themselves better than others And most is too early to say if his teammate is simply handling the new regulations better The revelation Lando dropped before practice started that he would consider retirement the moment that he wasn't motivated to race in FP1 anymore Probably caused some within the racing world and his fans to take notice but remember Lando has shown recently a tendency to mess around with the media so take this with a pound of salt But what might help Lando at is that things are looking a little bit more clear for McCarran than it was in testing Where it was looking very clear that they had lots of work to do that They hadn't quite gotten to grips with the new format but now, thanks to the efforts of Rob Marshall and Peter Perromu and everyone else at working

27:26It's looking that little bit better They might be able to jump past Red Bull in the pecking order And the Esmeralys and Ferrari might have some distance from the Piaz squad But time might actually favour them We'll have to wait and see before their first major upgrade Time will tell but for the purposes of this video in terms of meeting expectations or even exceeding them Oscar has pretty much convinced me that yeah, McCarran did exceed expectations So I think the fairest conclusion to draw from this session is that I think the best teams right now will be those and the drivers that have been able to make the most sense from their machinery And don't expect this to be a regular feature because Friday practices will probably become a little bit more obscure as time progresses And teams and drivers able to get a better handle on the rules But I do think this Friday felt more revealing than a normal practice day Even with the usual fuel load smoke and mirrors And again to the casual fan, I think F1 is going to be just fine If it is not, I'll repeat the dire situation that was 2014

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29:27This is K-A-C-H And one of these are my favourite