Official 2026 Canadian Grand Prix Thread ***SPOILERS***

[Byker28i]

Harry H said:

732NM said:

George has never been under the expected championship winner pressure before, and Kimi has less to lose, he's expected to be beaten by George.
We'll see how they cope with the pressure, Piastri fell apart when it mattered last year, despite his supposed cool demeaner.

Pressure can create silly mistakes.

Kimi is going to be a hot head that's for sure. George just needs to keep his cool and let the teenager self destruct. It's gonna be good for the punters and for the F1 viewing figures.

Especially if George drives into him, or pushes him off the track again...

[Byker28i]

cuprabob said:

kambites said:

Harry H said:

Kimi is going to be a hot head that's for sure. George just needs to keep his cool and let the teenager self destruct. It's gonna be good for the punters and for the F1 viewing figures.

He's certainly shown elements of hot-headedness this season, but far fewer than I'd expected for his age and experience. I guess if Russell closes the gap, the immaturity might start to make itself more known towards the end of the season. He does remind me of a young Verstappen in some ways, just without the "everything you do is right, so every issue must be someone else's fault" message from those surrounding him that seemed to poison Verstappen during his formative years.

I think George may end up losing it with paranoia setting in that Toto and the team are favouring Kimi.

Or, is Russell somehow overstressed the car more than Kimi? Hence the failures and difficulties he's faced. If it keeps on happening, then there's a reason

[Byker28i]

Gad-Westy said:

PRO5T said:

airbusA346 said:

It'll be interesting to see if the new compression ratio test has any impact on Mercedes performance at Monaco.

Indeed, I was actually thinking about that yesterday-
It seems to have been forgotten about by most.

I guess it will be the worst circuit to assess though. Barcelona might be more telling. Personally, I can't see it having much impact.

Defineately this. Monaco is mostly processional so it'll be interesting if the overtake, overcharge, over discharge if a second behind makes any difference to that, or if it just induces more accidents.
I doubt Merc are worried about compression tests, it might be a leaked excuse to hide that their engine is that good, same with Red Bull who poached ex Merc engine staff.
Which might, under aduo, allow Ferrari to develop and catch up with their engine.

But yes, need more of a normal racetrack to see

[cuprabob]

[MustangGT]

vaud said:

From a press and marketing perspective I d suggest a Kimi championship would be very very positive

and guarantee him an offer at Ferrari (assuming he doesn t have one already) - a proven Italian WDC in Maranello

Ferrari have Bearman in waiting.

[MustangGT]

PRO5T said:

airbusA346 said:

It'll be interesting to see if the new compression ratio test has any impact on Mercedes performance at Monaco.

Indeed, I was actually thinking about that yesterday-
It seems to have been forgotten about by most.

As I understand it the Mercedes engine has already passed all the new tests. Their design minimised loss of compression at high temperatures, not increased it.

[TheDeuce]

MustangGT said:

PRO5T said:

airbusA346 said:

It'll be interesting to see if the new compression ratio test has any impact on Mercedes performance at Monaco.

Indeed, I was actually thinking about that yesterday-
It seems to have been forgotten about by most.

As I understand it the Mercedes engine has already passed all the new tests. Their design minimised loss of compression at high temperatures, not increased it.

And Toto happily voted for the new form of tests... You'd obviously show support for any form of 'stringent' new test if you know full well it won't be effective in terms of your own car.

There's the proposed minor refresh of IC spec for 2027 anyway, anyone who wants to copy Merc at that point can. I expect the FIA and Liberty are both very happy if the entire field gets as much extra out of the IC at that point, because that's the fix the sport requires, as much power as possible needs to be IC to reduce dependency on electrical power.

If I'm right then there's a good chance that Mercs current dominance will end then, or at least be equalled. There is a question mark over whether or not the changes can come into play as soon as next season, but it seems to be just a matter of ensuring teams are all paid for the effort in order to fund the unexpected changes. Max has also made an ultimatum of the regs update which will probably ensure the deal gets done soon.

I expect endless new ideas and regs/spec tweaks for the next couple of years.

[Gary C]

Really enjoyed this race.

[ajprice]

nice one.

[PhilAsia]

ajprice said:

nice one.

In the full quote, Lewis went on to say: "Obviously, the Jos situation is the polar opposite!"

[EmailAddress]

Can you just imagine. I would love Lewis to hit middle-age dgaf energy.

The absolute chaos.

He's way too polite. But he does have a cheeky little inside comment escape every now and again.