It’s odd to be a motorsport fan.

It takes months to keep up with their season, learning all the details of their career, hearing their interviews, watching the way they celebrate, the way they show frustration, and their most disappointing weekends. You eventually become familiar with the sound of their voice on the radio, you know how they react when they are angry, and you know what they look like having just won.

And then, one day, they lose.

The race is over, the helmet is gone. The cameras move on.

But somehow, you don’t.

You turn off the Tv, and you’re still thinking about it.

You’re angry. Or maybe disappointed. Or maybe you just don't want to open up social media since you already know what you're going to see. Who knows.

And eventually, a strange question might come to your mind.

Why do I care so much?

It wasn’t my race.

I wasn’t in the cockpit.

I didn’t spend years dreaming about it.

I didn’t lose the trophy.

Then, why does it feels like something was stolen from me ?

We don't just watch sport. We invest in stories.

A formula one season consists in way more than just 24 races.

For us, fans, it turns into a story.

There is a beginning, a middle, expectations, setbacks, comebacks and, eventually, an ending, happy or not.

At the start of the season we see a driver having difficulties and then tell ourselves that the situation will improve.

We watch as they finally reach the podium and celebrate as though we had been looking forward to it as well.

We watch as they fight for the championship and gradually begin to believe in the possibility of something greater.

It's there that emotional involvement starts.

It is because after having kept up with that person for months, our own emotions no longer seem completely unrelated to their success.

We remember those victories.

As such as those failures.

We aren’t just watching their results anymore. It’s part of a story. Our story.

And when that journey ends differently from what we hoped for, we don't just lose a race, we lose the ending we had imagined for a long time.

Most of the times we aren’t mourning what happened.

We are mourning what COULD’VE happened. And here is the difference.

A driver can end up in second place, and objectively that is an amazing result.

But sometimes, it doesn't feel like it.

We were not imagining the second, we were imagining first.

We were thinking about the radio message. The podium. The trophy. The celebration. The photographs.

The instant they had finally accomplished what they had been pursuing.

And when that doesn’t happen, there is a specific kind of disappointment in us.

Even if we weren’t technically deprived of anything.

But a thing which we had previously mentally experienced before it actually occurred suddenly vanishes.

We are experiencing the loss of a possibility. A race that never took place. A victory that was nearly achieved.

A championship that never came into existence.

Maybe that's the reason why a result can cause more harm than its figures indicate.

The strange power of identification

There's also a more fundamental thing taking place. At a certain stage, supporting a driver can go beyond just liking the way they drive. We start to identify with them.

It isn't since we think that we are them, but because there is something about their story which takes on significance for us.

It is possible that we see their determination.

Perhaps we identify with their failures.

Perhaps we respect the fact that they carry on following a tough season.

It is possible that we began to follow them at a certain stage in our own lives and therefore their career became linked with our memories. Which is why two individuals can watch the same race and have entirely different emotional experiences.

One person sees a driver lose five points.

There is another person who sees an opportunity being lost by someone they have supported over the years.

The result is identical but the meaning isn't.

And the fact that motorsport is involved makes it even more complicated.

It is possible to imagine that the one who performs best will win in a great many sports. It's not true that motorsport always functions that way. A driver might be perfect and yet end up losing anyway :

A strategy can fail. A tyre is capable of wearing out. A single mechanical issue is capable of ruining an entire weekend.

A safety car can change everything. A error committed by another person can entirely change the outcome.

The driver is sometimes in a position where he doesn't have the car that he needs.

And that can make losing particularly painful for fans because it creates another question:

What if ?

What if we used another set of tyres ?

What if they choose another strategy ?

What if the safety car ended sooner?

What if the car had been faster ?

The brain has a preference for alternative scenarios.It continually reworks the race, looking for the point at which everything might have been different. At that moment, the race is still not over.

Not in our minds, anyway.

« They deserve better »

Who never heard this coming from a motorsport fan.

Sport doesn't function in a way that corresponds to what people deserve :

A driver may earn a victory without actually winning it. It is possible for a driver to carry out a perfect race and still end up in second place. A person can have a fantastic season and yet not win the championship.

You can't be sure that your efforts will be rewarded.

Yet fans do not always have the same experience of sport, we establish a feeling of justice based on the stories we cover.

We want the hard work to have some significance, we want the comeback to end happily.

We want the driver who has been struggling for years to finally have their moment.

It is upsetting when reality does not conform to the version of events that we had imagined in our minds.

Maybe it is for that reason that motorsport can seem so cruel.

There are times when no satisfactory ending is possible. Just a chequered flag.

And then this strange feeling remains with you for a while. That’s when your brain starts telling you:

It's just sport.

And technically, it is. But emotions don't really care about the word just.

We don't choose which stories become important to us.

And once a story becomes important, its ending matters.

Isn’t that in fact the beautiful part of this world?

There is something almost absurd about caring so deeply about people who don't know we exist. They don't know who is sitting behind the screen or whose Sunday they just ruined. They don't know who celebrated their victory in their bedroom, screamed at their television, or stayed awake thinking about a championship they never had the power to influence.

And yet, millions of people experience those emotions every weekend.

Not because they are irrational, or because they have forgotten that it is a sport.

But because humans are built to become emotionally invested in stories.

And motorsport gives us some of the most unpredictable stories imaginable.

We know the ending will be a chequered flag, we just don't know what it will mean when we get there.

Perhaps the strangest thing isn't that losing hurts when we weren't the ones racing.

The strangest thing is that we ever expected it not to.

Because somewhere between the lights going out and the chequered flag, we stop being completely outside the story.

For a few hours, we hope with them. We fear with them. We celebrate with them. And when they lose, a tiny part of us loses too.

Not the trophy.

Not the points.

Not the championship.

Just the possibility of the ending we wanted. And maybe that's what being a fan really is:

Caring about a story even when you know you were never one of its characters.

The 2026 rules have changed the part that electrical power plays in Formula 1, since the new power units have been designed with a significantly greater electrical component and as a result energy management has become one of the key aspects of performance. However, although the technology was meant to make the cars more efficient and competitive, it has also introduced a new source of annoyance for the drivers: systems which at times act in ways that are difficult for them to predict or understand.

The problem was especially clear at Spa-Francorchamps. Since the Belgian track has long straights, fast corners and few opportunities to recover energy, it is one of the most demanding circuits on the timetable with regard to energy management, and as a result even small differences in the way electrical energy is used can have a significant effect on straight-line speed and ultimately on lap time.

The issue is not merely one of having less power. The power units for 2026 include self-learning components and forward-thinking algorithms which continuously adjust energy deployment in light of a large number of factors. The systems are able to draw lessons from past laps and from driver inputs in order to try and predict how energy should be deployed later on in the lap.

In theory the energy management should become more efficient but in reality it can make the car unpredictable.

At Spa the drivers began to wonder if the loss of performance was due to their own driving or to the software of the power unit; it was this very point that made George Russell's weekend so frustrating.

When the driver is no longer in control

When Russell arrived at Spa he was finding it hard to understand why his Mercedes was not matching his team-mate Kimi Antonelli in terms of straight-line speed. The team had initially been unable to pinpoint the exact cause, and Russell was left questioning how much of the gap was actually due to his own performance.

The team eventually found that there were problems with the deployment of energy affecting Russell's car. Mercedes calculated that the issue was causing Russell to lose about two tenths of a second on approaching the Bus Stop chicane. Toto Wolff later admitted that Russell was suffering from a lack of straight-line speed which the team could not at that stage explain.

The issue was not merely the time spent on the track. It was the uncertainty about that time.

For a driver, being two tenths slower is one matter; not knowing why you are two tenths slower is a different matter. If the problem lies with the way you are driving, then you can alter your method. If the problem is with the car, you can request the engineers to look into it. But in the case where the behaviour is due to an extremely complex energy-management system which responds in different ways to small changes in the inputs, the driver has much less control.

Sometimes the problem isn't fully understood until after the session has finished.

This sets up a particularly tough psychological situation since the driver has to go through the whole of the qualifying session doubting their own performance, only to find later on that some of the deficit was due to something they could not

Are the drivers becoming more impatient?

Russel was by no means the only driver who expressed frustration.

At Spa the McLaren drivers were the most outspoken, Oscar Piastri in particular criticizing the effect of the new power units on qualifying performance.

After qualifying, Piastri said that he could be going at a similar speed to his team-mate in the corners but still end up two tenths behind on the lap due to what took place on the straights.

“It sucks. I can’t really put it any other way,” said Piastri regarding the importance of the electric component of the new engines in this season’s results.

He then delivered an even stronger assessment of the situation:

“When the starting grid is determined by computers that work well or badly, it’s a pretty crap way of going racing,”

Piastri became frustrated because, although the two McLarens had the same power-unit settings, he had qualified in seventh place—three positions behind Lando Norris. Andrea Stella, the McLaren team principal, stated that the self-learning features of the power unit had been responsible for the difference in the way energy was deployed.

At the same time, Norris acknowledged that the situation was no completely within the driver's control as well.

‘It's not down to the driver,’ he said. ‘It's just down to hoping you get lucky that the power unit does what it should do and doesn't do something silly.’

The comments bring out the main issue with the 2026 regulations: « how much of a driver's lap should be based on their ability and how much on the behaviour of the machine »

Is this actually AI?

It is here that the use of terms becomes important.

To refer to these systems merely as "AI" is convenient, but it is technically inaccurate; the systems in question are more accurately called **self-learning algorithms and predictive software** than artificial intelligence in the usual sense.

Their job is to predict the car's future energy needs and to arrange the use of that energy over the course of the lap; they can draw on the results of previous laps and adjust their strategy in light of the driver's inputs and the changing conditions.

The issue is that this complexity may as well lead to unforeseen outcomes.

A small variation in the way the throttle is applied, together with differences in wheelspin, traction, or even wind conditions, can affect how the system forecasts the remainder of the lap. At Spa this might result in one driver having considerably more electrical energy available when he reaches the end of a straight than another driver, even if both cars have essentially the same settings.

Which is why the issue has become so controversial. The technology isn't necessarily "bad"; instead, the increasing influence of the technology raises questions regarding driver agency.

It is very ironic indeed that the regulations for 2026, which the FIA presented as marking a new generation of cars with a greater emphasis on driver skill, should at the same time include a power unit whose complexity can make the driver feel as though they are merely a passenger to the software.

Should drivers just take control?

A obvious way to deal with this would be to allow the drivers full manual control over the way in which energy is deployed.

The argument is that if the driver were able to choose both when and how much electrical energy to use, the result would be more directly determined by their judgement and skill.

However, Nikolas Tombazis, Director of the FIA Single-Seater division, points out that that would not necessarily deal with the problem.

Allowing drivers to have complete freedom when it comes to deploying the system could in fact make the phenomenon called "clipping" worse, since they would naturally consume large quantities of energy going through the corners and might therefore have insufficient electrical power by the end of the straight.

The problem would thus continue to exist; it would merely be shifted from the algorithm to the driver.

What makes the 2026 regulations so difficult to balance is the FIA's desire for drivers to have real control without letting energy management turn into an uncontrollable software lottery or become yet another overwhelming task for the driver.

A « solution » is already on the way

Although some drivers, such as Piastri, believe that rebalancing the mix of thermal and electric power will do nothing to change the situation, Tombazis is very optimistic. In his view, adding a proportion of electric power will give the driver more control without completely removing the challenge.

The FIA chief does, however, acknowledge that the changes for 2026 are proving to be far more complicated and complex than anticipated.

Enemy or ally?

AI isn't necessarily the enemy in itself.

The technology could in the end turn out to be one of the most useful tools at the disposal of Formula 1 teams and drivers since more advanced energy management enables the cars to become more efficient, enhances the range of strategic options and allows engineers to obtain a level of performance which would otherwise be impossible.

The actual problem arises when the technology has become so influential that the driver no longer knows why their car is behaving as it is.

F1 has always been a struggle between driver and car; but when drivers start to wonder whether they are losing time as a result of their own errors or because an algorithm has made the decision, one question has to be asked:

Is it the case that Formula 1's ever more intelligent cars are helping the drivers to go beyond their limits or are they instead starting to set those limits for the drivers?

As Formula One fans continue to watch Kimi Antonelli’s remarkable 2026 campaign, another young driver has been quietly building something of his own: consistency. Isack Hadjar has emerged as one of the most reliable performers in the Red Bull line-up.

In the space of just fourteen months, Sergio Pérez, Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda had taken turns alongside Verstappen, without managing to deliver the performances expected of them.

Promoted to Red Bull after just one season with Racing Bulls, Isack Hadjar quickly demonstrated impressive pace, particularly during qualifying. However, it took the Frenchman longer to translate that speed into consistent race results. The start of the season proved challenging, with just one points-scoring finish in the first four Grands Prix.

Since the Canadian Grand Prix, however, the situation has changed dramatically. Hadjar has established himself as a regular top-six finisher, recording seven consecutive top-six finishes from Canada to Hungary. That run includes a fourth place in Monaco, fifth-place finishes in Canada and Great Britain, and a sixth-place finish in Belgium after starting from 21st on the grid.

After 11 Grands Prix, Hadjar sits eighth in the Drivers’ Championship with 68 points . Even more strikingly, 64 of his 68 points have come since the Canadian Grand Prix, showing just how dramatically his season has changed.

Following Christian Horner’s departure, Red Bull’s new team principal, Laurent Mekies, made clear that improving the performance of the second car was one of the team’s priorities.

“On our list of priorities at Red Bull Racing, there was obviously the powertrain – getting back to being competitive as quickly as possible – but also: ‘We need to sort out the issue with the second car.’”

Mekies also acknowledged that Red Bull had never properly utilised its second car and saw the arrival of the young French driver as an opportunity that could not be missed.

Are Hadjar’s performances only thanks to Mekies?

Under these circumstances, it would be easy to assume that much of the credit for Hadjar’s recent results belongs to the new team principal. Yet Mekies himself insists that the Frenchman deserves much of the credit.

Just a few days after joining Red Bull, Hadjar arrived in the UK to begin working with the team. His commitment has remained clear throughout the season.

“He comes to the factory every two weeks when there’s a back-to-back race schedule, otherwise every other day. When he’s not in the simulator, he’s working with his engineers.”

That level of commitment is exactly what Red Bull was looking for from its second driver. At just 21 years old, Hadjar finds himself in one of the most demanding environments in Formula One, alongside a four-time World Champion and under constant pressure to deliver.

Mekies has also highlighted the driver’s consistency and the progress he has made throughout the season. According to Red Bull, Hadjar has continued to improve, even when the final result has not necessarily reflected his performance.

“That’s what we’re seeing: he’s slightly better every time he gets behind the wheel.”

The Belgian Grand Prix offered a particularly strong example of that progression. After qualifying in Q3 but receiving a grid penalty that sent him to the back of the field, Hadjar recovered from 21st to sixth, gaining 15 positions during the race. Mekies described it as Hadjar’s “best race with us, no question.”

So, can we expect to see Hadjar on the podium after the summer break?

For a perfectionist like Hadjar, a result such as his performance at Spa-Francorchamps is unlikely to be enough. While the Frenchman can certainly be proud of what he has achieved since joining Red Bull, both he and the team are already looking further ahead.

Hadjar admitted that he began the season making mistakes on relatively simple details, despite already having the pace required to compete at the front. His main objective since then has been to turn that raw speed into greater consistency.

The Monaco Grand Prix provided perhaps the clearest glimpse of what might be possible. Hadjar finished fourth, scoring 12 points, after briefly finding himself in a podium position during the race. Pierre Gasly ultimately retained third place following Alpine’s successful appeal, leaving Hadjar just outside the top three.

Reflecting on his progress, Hadjar explained:

“The start of the season was a bit tricky. In the first few races, I felt like I was getting the simple things wrong whilst managing the most difficult aspects very well – such as speed, pace and keeping up with Max.”

“Over the last few races, I think I’ve found a bit of consistency; we’ve also sorted out a few issues within the team, which makes life easier for us. It’s much easier when the car is reliable; when it’s competitive, it’s easy to get results – I’m not going to lie.”

But the Frenchman is not satisfied with simply collecting points.

“I’d really like to contest a race where I can fight for a proper podium finish: that’s my next goal.”

And while Hadjar has yet to add another podium to his career tally in 2026, the pace is clearly there. His previous podium came at the 2025 Dutch Grand Prix, and his current run of seven consecutive top-six finishes suggests that a return to the top three may only be a matter of time.

The summer break, therefore, is unlikely to be entirely restful for Isack Hadjar. With Red Bull continuing to work on its second car and the young Frenchman determined to keep improving, the second half of the season could provide the clearest answer yet to the question Red Bull has been facing for years:

Has the curse of the second seat finally been broken?

Laura Müller, Esteban Ocon’s race engineer at Haas

For decades, women have played a secondary role in motorsport. For a long time, they were often assigned to communications roles or, worse, reduced to being “grid girls” in revealing outfits. This raises the question: why were they not considered as competitors or, indeed, as potential engineers? Well, this stems from prejudices about their supposed lack of strength, aggression, speed, and so on.

Despite these obstacles, some women have managed to make their mark over the years, such as Michèle Mouton, the French rally legend. She proved that a woman could compete at the highest level and excel against the best male drivers. Another iconic figure is Lella Lombardi, the only woman to have scored points in a Formula 1 World Championship Grand Prix. She achieved this feat at the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix by finishing sixth, scoring half a point after the race was stopped early.

More recently, Laura Müller, Esteban Ocon’s race engineer at Haas, became the first female race engineer in Formula 1. She took on the role at the beginning of the 2025 season.

Initiatives for future female talent

Recently, for women wishing to compete in motor racing, particularly with the ambition of reaching Formula 1, the F1 Academy was set up. Its Managing Director is Susie Wolff, a former racing driver who competed in Formula One testing and free practice sessions with Williams. In 2014, she became the first woman in 22 years to participate in an official F1 weekend when she took part in FP1 at the British Grand Prix. The F1 Academy offers young female talent a structured pathway towards Formula 1, in the hope that one day we might see women racing in F1 on a full-time basis.

In other disciplines, we can also mention the Iron Dames, an all-female team that competes in endurance racing, notably at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, thereby proving that women too have their place in endurance racing. The future for women in motorsport looks promising, and more and more initiatives, such as funding programmes, are emerging.

More and more women are being seen as the future of motor racing, such as Doriane Pin, the 2025 F1 Academy champion, and Jamie Chadwick, a multiple W Series champion. Doriane Pin is already showing what this pathway can lead to. After winning the 2025 F1 Academy title, she became a Mercedes Development Driver for 2026. In April 2026, she also completed her first Formula 1 test with Mercedes, becoming the first F1 Academy champion to do so.

As well as the racing side of things, support is also provided for women wishing to work in the world of motorsport. Several global programmes support women and girls wanting to work in motorsport, offering career guidance, STEM workshops, and professional mentorship. Key initiatives include the FIA Women in Motorsport Mentoring Programme, the FIA CareerShift Online programme, and grassroots efforts like Girls on Track. This is reflected in the statistics: according to a study by Sustainability Magazine, the proportion of female staff is set to rise from 28 per cent in 2018 to 37 per cent in 2025.

Let’s also talk about the fans: these days, more and more women are actively following motorsport. A passion for the sport is becoming increasingly widespread amongst women, even though from a very young age we are often told, through stereotypes, that cars and motorbikes are just for boys. This therefore shows a real shift. This change is happening in particular thanks to social media and series such as Drive to Survive on Netflix. In F1, 42 per cent of fans are now female, compared with 37 per cent in 2018. In 2025, 48 per cent of all new F1 fans were female, showing how quickly the fan base is becoming more balanced.

Future idols?

In motor racing, the same male idols have always been the ones to feature regularly: Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton, Ayrton Senna, Max Verstappen , and so on. For a boy dreaming of a career in motor racing, it is easier to identify with them.

Very few female figures are admired on the same scale, and young girls are therefore unable to draw as much inspiration from them. However, this promising future for women in motor racing is creating the female idols of tomorrow. The goal is not to replace the iconic male figures of motorsport, but to make sure that young girls can look at the grid, the pit wall or the paddock and see someone they can identify with.

Doriane Pin, F1A World Champion, Mercedes test driver

Women you should find out more about:

• Doriane Pin

• Laura Müller

• Jessica Hawkins

• Susie Wolff

• Jamie Chadwick

• Abbi Pulling

• Marta García

• Ruth Buscombe

• Hannah Schmitz