Suzuka laid bare F1 2026 problems and was still dramatically better

I see no reason to continue writing diatribes about the 2026 Formula 1 regulations every time a race happens, but here’s what I want to say:

• The drivers have warned the whole time that the speed differentials caused by regeneration would lead to bad wrecks, and that did indeed happen in Japan. Thank God, Ollie Bearman is okay after a terrifying crash trying to avoid Franco Colapinto’s crawling Alpine. It should not have gotten to this point. That said, there are procedural ways to rectify this; it doesn’t prove regenerative braking is some fundamentally bad idea.

• Qualifying did borderline suck this time. The tweaks to regeneration capacity were not enough. The cars need more power in qualifying — from the V6 — and I hope they get it over the war-induced break. Charles Leclerc has toed the line for the first couple races, but this time he snapped because he tried to do what Charles Leclerc does — hurl the car in qualifying — and the car would not let him.

• It’s beginning to seem like some sources were misleading about how much of this new stuff is under manual driver control. I don’t think I’m alone in having been given the impression that drivers would be able to manipulate this stuff to extract the maximum from it, but it’s starting to come out that — at least the way some teams have chosen to implement things — the computer is taking the car out of their hands from time to time, sometimes at unconscionable moments. To the extent I am susceptible to turning against these regs, it is here: If the driver makes control inputs that the car does not obey, and there’s nothing broken, that’s unacceptable.

• That’s all the bad stuff. Racing at Suzuka is back. People who think the only legitimate form of passing is out-braking someone need to get over it. People who believe overtakes no longer require any skill or setup are just wrong. This is a new kind of F1 racing. The yo-yo part is not the pass. It can take several laps to determine whether a pass has been completed or not, and that is awesome. Think about how much of the Japanese Grand Prix in recent years was devoted to nothing happening. Now you have to watch every lap in order to see whether what looks like what’s happening is really going to happen or not. Stakes!

• Max Verstappen is annoying and whiny, but it’s still good for the sport that he’s throwing a tantrum. It’s the strongest leverage available against FOM and the FIA for the drivers to fix what is really wrong with the regs (they won’t be able to change the things they personally dislike but are actually good).

• Cars being unreliable is good, actually, and so many people I see online complaining about it were — just before this season started — talking about how boring F1 is now that the cars don’t blow up anymore.

• Even if not a single team can get close to Mercedes this year — and of course they will — Kimi versus George is going to be one for the ages.