I was watching FP2 at Suzuka and trying to get my head around what Formula 1 has become. It feels like I now need a manual just to understand why some cars are fast, some are slow, some are slowing down, and some seem to ignore others on track.
I am just a viewer. Supposedly an informed viewer. I have been watching this sport since the early 70s, so I should know what is going on, but I really do not. That makes me wonder: do I even care anymore? Do I really want to try to understand this? Because this is not what I signed up for all those years ago.
But now I find myself listening more carefully, suspicious, because I no longer fully trust what I am hearing. Let’s call it FOM-slop. Juan Pablo Montoya is to blame for that!
I have always liked Jolyon Palmer, and today I have to thank him for calling it out. Inadvertently or not, he made it clear just how absurd these rules and regulations are during a back-and-forth with Sam Collins in the closing stages of FP2 for this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix, at Suzuka.
Speaking of manuals, apart from needing one myself, it seems McLaren might need one too. The manual for how to operate that Mercedes power unit. Because clearly, it is a rocket. Mercedes have dominated the opening races and looks set to continue unless McLaren get their act together. The other customer teams are nowhere near that level.
Have McLaren got the Mercedes power unit manual?
Although Alpine have apparently read some of the manual. Williams have delivered an absurdly inappropriate Formula 1 car. Even if they extract everything from the power unit, the car is overweight, off the pace, and fundamentally flawed. It changes nothing.
So what are we left with? Maybe Ferrari have found something to work, although that is always debatable. Or McLaren are finally figuring things out, because right now, according to Sam Collins, they have not.
He said during the FP2 F1 TV commentary: “I could see McLaren really become contenders later in the year, but they do have this issue of Mercedes giving them this fantastic power unit, but they haven’t given them the instruction manual for it, so they’re going to have to work it all out. It’s a bit like getting a new computer game, but no one’s told you the controls, but slowly you figure it out, and then you become the master.”
Why do we need a manual? Because of how these engines operate. And this is where Palmer made his point. These rules have eroded one of Formula 1’s greatest elements: the direct fight between teammates. Who is the better driver? Who extracts more from the car?
That used to be clear. You could see who braked later, who got on the throttle earlier. Telemetry showed everything. Drivers used it, teams analysed it, and fans understood it. That was the essence of the sport.
Palmer reveals all loud and clear
Palmer nails it with this explanation, elaborating on the missing manual: “That is what McLaren are doing. They have got the hardware, so they just need to understand it. The analogy is spot on. There is no reason that, with time and experience with the power unit, they will not understand exactly how to maximise it operationally.
“There is so much to do with these power units. We know how sensitive they are and how key they are in differentiating performance. It is all about the power unit at the moment. So much of it is. If McLaren are half a second away and they can find a few tenths, they are going to be in contention.
“Then you might have Russell with a slightly problematic qualifying session, or Antonelli making a mistake, and suddenly you are on the front row,” reckoned Palmer.
Later, he explained it further: “Sector three is the chicane plus whatever energy you have to run to the line, and how much you are slowing down through 130R and into the chicane.
“Performance there is probably governed as much by straight-line speed as by how you get through the chicane. That is still crucial, but the variations in straight-line speed, power ramp down, and energy deployment are so big this year.
“When you look at a data trace now, it is completely different. It used to be uniform on the straights, maybe one or two kilometres per hour difference between cars. Then you would look into the corners to find the differences.
“Now it is like comparing a Formula 1 car to a Formula 2 car on each straight. That is where so much of the difference is. The variation is huge, even between cars with the same power unit or within the same team. That is something we are not used to seeing in Formula 1,” ventured Palmer.
How top compare teammates?
Once upon a time in Formula 1, there was clarity. One driver was faster than the other because he stomped on the brakes later or harder, got on the loud pedal quicker, or whatever. But now, clipping, harvesting, lifting and coasting, and the other BS negate that important distinction between teammates. They are now united in problem-solving to survive, not flat-out racing one another. Now that clarity is gone.
This era is overcomplicated. Drivers are managing energy, worrying about systems rather than racing. It is not what Formula 1 should be. It is like Max Verstappen said: anti-racing. And yet we are fed FOM-slop and told everything is fine. That the sport is in a good place, and this is acceptable. That is simply not true.
The engines before this era – last year in fact – had reached maturity, incredibly fast, incredibly robust and virtually bullet-proof. The field was incredibly close. The gaps were minimal. But for 2026, everything was changed at once. New F1 power units and new aero. It makes no sense.
Would it not have been better to keep the previous engines and introduce the new ones later, properly developed? Instead, we have rushed solutions, constant fixes, and a compromised product. The massive three-plus-second gaps between the pace setters and the backmarkers are astonishing, considering where we were. And there is no turning back on this flop.
Nowadays, hardly anyone understands these engines apart from the smart guys at Mercedes, who certainly do and maybe Ferrari! The rest? Forget about it
World champions McLaren can’t get their cars on the grid for a race. Aston Martin risks killing their drivers in a car that palpitates on track like a rocket-powered vibrator. Audi are rubbish considering their racing pedigree and with Mattia Binotto now TP, that operation will go south fast. Cadillac are the new-age Coloni. And of course, dismal Williams needs a change in leadership and a reset.
1990s Formula 1 comparisons by Sam Collins are absurd
Moving on. What frustrates me most is hearing comparisons to Formula 1 in the 90s to mislead the masses on F1 TV. I respect and am a fan of Sam Collins, but pushing the FOM-slop narrative distorts reality. It undermines his credibility.
In the closing stages of the broadcast, Collins makes the most absurdly irrelevant comparison: “Putting this into the context of Formula 1 history, the field spread from first to last is still incredibly tight. We are still in a very close era. If you go back to the mid-1990s, the spread was sometimes seven or eight seconds. Now we are looking at less than three-and-a-half seconds from first to Aston Martin.
Let me remind Mr Collins that back then, if he wanted to be a Formula 1 driver and had a bit of money, he and I could go buy a car, get a trailer, and try to pre-qualify for a Grand Prix alongside 30-something other drivers and teams.
It became a running joke. As photographers, we would sit there early in the morning (a 30-minute or so 8 am start time, all-or-nothing session for wannabe F1 starters) and bet on who would even make it out of the pit lane.
That was the reality of the era. And the next day, the teams that failed to pre-qualify would pack up, the lads fire up a barbecue, and enjoy the Grand Prix as spectators. It was a completely different world.
Big bucks era means no excuses for modern Formula 1
Today, you have 11 teams (sort of), all heavily funded, operating at the highest level. The budget of a single team like Williams today would probably cover the collective budget of the grid back then. So comparing the two eras is completely meaningless.
I give Collins a pass because I respect him, but he has to stop pushing this FOM-slop narrative so blatantly. It undermines the credibility he has built.
I genuinely wish I were writing about a great build-up to qualifying on Saturday. But I am not. As it stands, no one knows what is going to happen. Who runs out of energy, who gets caught out, who is lifting and coasting at the wrong moment?
As much as I wish it were different with this world of ours in disarray, Formula 1 should be our escape, but our sport as we know it, that got us hooked, is also being ‘bombed’ in front of our eyes. We are here to report the truth.
I do not want to report this bad news, but we cannot sit on the fence and pretend this is good. Because it is not. FOM should spend their efforts and resources coming up with a solution ASAP rather than trying to force-feed us unbelievable slop.
Thanks, Jolyon. for maling it crystal clear today. As for Sam, his on my ‘FOM-Slop Alert list’ with Monty.