u/Conscious-Berry2229

Aston martin dominance incoming

Before this year started, all I wanted was for Aston Martin to be consistently scoring points. After seeing how radical the car's design was in preseason testing, I even had slight hopes that it could compete for the odd podium every now and then. When the reports started it coming in that the car had engine issues, I was disappointed because I thought the team would be stuck fighting Racing Bulls and Alpine for something like P13.

Now, the new upgrades have come in Hungary. My expectations have reached rock bottom. I don't even care about them scoring points, I just want to see Aston Martin next to other cars on the same lap. I'd be ecstatic if you told me that Aston Martin could be fighting with Racing Bulls and Alpine, but I'm honestly happy if they can fight with Williams and Cadillac. I used to think that there was no point in watching cars fight for places below 10th place, but now I'd give anything to watch Fernando Alonso overtake Alexander Albon for P17.

Now that I think about it, I don't even care if this car never finishes a race for the rest of the season. Seeing Alonso in P13 for FP1 has already given me more happiness than I expected to get from this entire year, and I'm satisfied if this is all that I get.

In 2025, when Hamilton was performing poorly, a lot of people, myself included, thought that Bearman would most likely be in the Ferrari by 2027. However, with Hamilton performing excellently in 2026, I think it's likely we will see Hamilton continue to drive for Ferrari for at least until the end of 2028. Unless a seat at another top team opens up, that would mean Bearman would most likely stay at Haas until then, which I think would be a major disappointment, given he has incredible pace.

I also think that top drivers being stuck in midfield/backmarker team for too long might also negatively impact a driver's development, because they don't get experience fighting at the front of the field. I don't think that they get slower or they can't ever learn, I just think it will take them longer to adjust. I think this is most apparent with drivers like Russell, who spent 3 years in the backmarker Williams, and had a period of adjustment in 2022, getting into incidents with other drivers. Lando also spent a lot of time in McLaren when they were a midfield team, and it also took him some time to get used to consistently fighting at the front, whereas Oscar had spent most of his career in consistent podium scoring cars, and looks far more accustomed to fighting at the front (although it does have the inverse effect of him struggling to fight in the midfield where Lando is far stronger)

I feel like Liam Lawson has been hugely underrated this season, and is showing how well he can deal with pressure and bring in results. Coming into the season, if Lindblad were to soundly beat Lawson (and some were claiming he would), then Lawson would most likely get dropped out of Formula 1 entirely. However, he sits 9th in the standings with 26 after 6 rounds, scoring points in 4 of them. However, I don't think he has a future in the Red Bull organization, because as unfair as it is, Red Bull are unlikely to repromote him back to the main team. So, my question is, is Lawson doing enough at the moment to secure a seat at a different team, and which teams are his best options to stay in Formula 1? Personally, this is what I think:

Aston Martin: IF Alonso retires (which I'm not sure he will), and Lawson has no other options, then I think there's a chance that Lawson could go here. However, given that Aston likes to sign more experienced and already successful drivers to legitimize the team, I think this is the least likely.

Williams: Their current drivers are most likely disappointed with the big step back relative to 2025, and may be looking elsewhere. Out of the 2, I see Sainz's seat more likely to open up.

Alpine: Initially, I thought this was the most likely move with Colapinto's early season underperformance, and Alpine already setting precedent for signing discarded Red Bull drivers with Gasly. However, with Colapinto's form improving, I see this as less likely.

Haas: I think this is the most likely option for Lawson. Ocon is underperforming relative to Bearman, and Camara still needs to clean up some skills in Formula 2.

As much as Norris struggled during the first half of last year, making mistakes during qualifying, he was never majorly off the pace of Piastri during any point of the season (I think the closest we got to that without him making mistakes was Imola 2025 qualifying). Even during the worst parts of his season, when the car wasn't particularly suited to his style, you couldn't count him out of the pole position conversation. In the past 2 races for Russell though, even before Q1 started, you could already tell that he was disadvantaged pace-wise compared to Antonelli, and wasn't going to be a serious threat for pole unless Antonelli binned it.

In addition, even during the races Norris started behind, his race pace was always thereabouts or even slightly faster than Piastri. Throughout the season, there weren't any races where Norris was being outpaced by half a second per lap in clean air. It's somewhat concerning that Russell, who should be in his driving prime right now, was consistently several tenths of a second a lap slower than his teenager (albeit generational, but teenager nonetheless) teammate. Even in Australia, Russell only won by 3 seconds against Antonelli who was essentially in a car with no set-up after his crash in FP3.

With all that said, its fun to think about statements like "Russell would win the championship by summer break in that McLaren." I think what people forget is that there is additional pressure fighting for a first championship. It's less pressure to drive around in P3-P6 without the constant pressure of a potential championship. As far as dominant cars go, the McLaren did not have the same inevitability as the Mercedes does this year in qualifying, yet Russell couldn't even put the car in the podium position in the last 2 races.

Now, you might be thinking that I'm insane, but hear me out. I have undeniable proof that the AMR26 will be the fastest car in Miami and put the other teams to shame.

Now, according to the weather forecasts, there is set to be heavy rain during the Miami Grand Prix. During wet races, its harder to warm up the tyres to their optimal temperature. In other words, its hard for the tires to achieve the optimal thermal energy.

Now, lets move on to what we know about the AMR26. We know that it has severe vibration issues and causes nerve damage to its drivers, but during wet races these are actually good things.

Thermal energy is defined as the kinetic energy of atoms caused by translational, rotational, and vibrational motion. The AMR26, which is the car that produces the most vibrations, is also the car that produces the most thermal energy. This means it can warm up its tyres to the optimal temperature better than the other cars can.

In addition, most drivers are typically less confident driving in wet weather conditions. Its almost as if you could say they are more nervous than they usually would be. Wouldn't it be great to be less nervous, maybe have less nerves, during wet races and be more confident. Well, that's exactly what the AMR26 provides.

This evidence proves that the AMR26 is actually the greatest wet weather car ever designed. But you may be wondering, why would Adrian Newey design a car that's only good in the wet, and slow in the dry. Well, dear reader, Newey the airbender did this for a 400 IQ reason.

The 2 drivers for Aston Martin are among the greatest wet weather drivers in the history of the sport. First we have Fernando Alonso, who's driven brilliantly in wet weather conditions such as Hungary 2006 and Malaysia 2012. Next we have the greatest wet weather driver of all time in Lance Stroll, who has shown his skill in the 2017 Monza qualifying, 2020 Turkey qualifying, Las Vegas 2025 qualifying, and Australia 2025 and Great Britain 2025. Adrian Knew-ey that this lineup could win any wet race ever if given the car to do so, and so he designed the AMR26 to suit his drivers' likings.

With all that being said, I suggest you guys to not watch the race because it will be quite boring to watch Aston Martin win by 74 seconds.