FORMULA 1 TAG HEUER GRAN PREMIO DE ESPAÑA 2026
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Monza had it all.
A surprise pole sitter, a surprise winner and a surprise guest appearance. It also offered some of the best racing we've seen this year. The teams appear to be coming to terms with the new power management systems and the deployment, yo-yo racing (while still present) was used to good effect at Monza. The jury is still out on the new regulations, but halfway through the season is when we'd expect things to settle out and it appears to be the case.
Before the lights went out, the general consensus was that George would run away at the front and bring himself back into contention for the championship with his teammate. Even the most optimistic Kimi fans thought he would be lucky to finish on the podium. And most predictions put him in the top 5. Instead, he took advantage of the FIA's bullshit rule penalizing Ferrari's starts and jumped up to 13th before Charles decided to recreate his 2020 crash at Parbolica. By lap 20, Antonelli was on the podium and harassing his teammate for the lead.
It's easy to look at this as just a failure for George Russell. (and we absolutely should be looking at this as a complete failure for George Russell.) His teammate carved through the field and humiliated him. But this is also a notice to the rest of the teams. Unless something goes terribly wrong mechanically or Kimi starts taking boxing lessons from Isack, this is his title.
Gasly's Pole position was an outstanding performance on the heels of disappointment after the FIA overturned their overturning of the overturning of a mistake they made while overturning something or other at Monaco. Honestly, I can't be arsed to look up the details, but Isack Hadjar... speeding... pitlane measurements... Flavio... something, something, something, we win. Or lose. Either way, it was an awesome pole position and Pierre adds another chapter to his "I'm awesome at Monza" scrapbook.
In "stories we're following" news- Lawson was asked by Red Bull to take it on the chin for the weekend. He ultimately finished a full minute behind Verstappen, but how much of it was down to the team screwing him over and how much is down to a lack of talent, is hard to quantify and we don't seem to be getting any kind of hard evidence. Maybe Madrid will be different! (spoiler alert- it wont.)
The teams head to Madrid for the inaugural race in the city. The only photos I can find on line are concept art, under construction or proposals like the one used for this write-up. I hope the circuit is ready for the teams. We'll be at Doherty's. Hope to see you there.
Please RSVP by Saturday, so the restaurant can set their staffing to accommodate us. Thank you!