The Race's writers split sharply on 2026's first half, but one dividing line emerges: energy-rich races deliver, energy-starved ones don't. Barcelona topped several lists — three-stop versus two-stop strategy battles, proper tyre management, no battery nonsense. Canada earned praise for the Russell-Antonelli duel before a battery failure ended it, while Hungary showed teams finally extracting performance from the new regs.
Suzuka drew near-universal scorn. Tit-for-tat overtakes with zero skill involved, pure battery deployment lottery. Spa, early-season races, and stretches of Silverstone exposed the same flaw: drivers pull brilliant passes — Hamilton around the outside at Copse, defending through Maggotts — only to lose position back on the straight via a button press. The consensus? Classic high-speed circuits are suffering badly under rules that reward energy management over racecraft.
Monza looms. Nobody's optimistic.
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