The Victors

1. As previously posted, the Bahrain Grand Prix will officially be held in Malaysia. The season could possibly end at Imola. That would mean they only have to cancel one, with two being moved. Imola hosted last year, so the circuit should be in good shape to host again.

2. NY Jets owner Woody Johnson bought a big chunk of Aston Martin. He is taking a seat on the Board but indication were that Lawrence Stroll still has majority control and has no intention of giving up control, he was just looking to recoup some of the hundreds of million he has invested. No one has said how much Woody bought or how much he paid, but they did say it was based on a valuation of Aston Martin Aramco Racing as $3.4 billion.

3. Aston Martin believes they have nailed the body, aero and suspension issues and the only thing holding the AM back is the low horse power and unpredictability of the power unit (the combo of electric and combustion engine can have some huge surprises when governed by the software such as massive power increases when drivers least expect it like entering a curve). Red Bull say they have similar issues where the car is extremely unpredictable at times where you have far too much power going into curves on occasion and far too little when you get to a straightaway. Aston Martin has so much confidence in Honda to work through these issues in 26 and 27 that they opened negotiations with Red Bull and Mercedes to be their power unit supplier in 2028. Essentially, Honda is on double secret probation and, if they can't show serious progress yet this season, Aston Martin is moving on in '28 with Red Bull rumored to be the possible partner.

4. After rampant rumors of magical chairs with drivers in '27, it looks like there will actually be very few changes. Bortoleto will stay on at Alpine, and Ocon is really the only one left who is driving for their seat. Some speculate that Lawson has impressed since taking on the Red Bull seat as a temp for Hadjar, but Red Bull seems more than content with their current drivers, though they do wish they had one more seat for current F2 leader Nikola Tsolov, a young Bulgarian driving for Campos but part of the Red Bull racing team. Rafael Camara is a 21 year old Brazilian driving for Invicta Racing and is part of Ferrari racing. Ferrari would love to find a spot for Bearman on a better team than Haas but it doesn't look like there will be an opening at Alpine or others that they have talked to. At one point it looked like Haas would dump Ocon and that would be Camara's spot, and it could still happen but talk about Ocon has cooled lately. So it looks like things will be fairly much the same next season as far as drivers.

5. Kimi Antonelli will take a major penalty this weekend for using a 4th engine. They do have token for engine improvements but a new engine is a penalty and they believe this is a great spot to serve it, as he can make up some ground with a faster car here.

6. Toto says they have no money and there will be no major upgrades. Others at Mercedes just chuckle and say there will be three rounds of upgrades along with one engine upgrade and you can make of it what you wish (minor or major). There will be major aero upgrades this weekend.

7. Mixed signals from Ferrari as to whether they will unveil a major engine upgrade this weekend. That was the plan but others claim that it has yet to complete the major testing they do and didn't believe Ferrari would risk it. The consensus seems to be that they are going to go for it with the new engine this weekend as they believe they are close to catching McLaren, who have won consecutive Grand Prixs. Ferrari believe they are so close to being able to catch if not surpass the leaders, while Toto seems frustrated that McLaren and Ferrari continue to roll out upgrades, when he believes the expense caps should have prevented some of it. Likely this is just Toto f*cking with people for some reason.

8. Lots of fireworks two weeks ago with Ferrari. Ferrari even dropped the broadcasting of Hamllton's radio at one point given his slams agains the car and the strategies. The complaints from Charles's car weren't much better. Ferrari believe they shoulda, woulda, coulda done better this year and won at least one more Grand Prix but there have been some poor and controversial decisions and upgrades that haven't delivered.