Recreational Cricket - Saturday 11th July
Village cricket at Tilford Cricket Club, Farnham. (Photo by Adam Davy/PA Images via Getty Images)
A Brisbane cricket club is farewelling a disappointing season with a unique competition.
All four of Morningside Magpies’ grades (A1, B2, C1, C3) missed the Queensland Sub-Districts finals, so the club committee have decided to have some fun before breaking away for the off-season.
The Magpies will host the Super Over Cup on Saturday March 14 at their home ground. Four teams of five players each will play in a round robin league using the Super Over format used to decided tied One-Day and T20 Internationals.
Up to five players will bat in the Super Over (with the bowlers needing four wickets to dismiss the batting team), with the fielding team comprising of a bowler, a wicketkeeper, one off-side fielder, one leg-side fielder, and one ‘floating’ fielder who can field wherever they like. Each team will play each other twice (six games), with the top two playing in a best-of-three Grand Final series (with unlimited Super Overs if needed to decide a winner). All 20 players must bat and bowl in at least one Super Over, with the opening batting pairs and the bowlers to rotate for every game. Players in the Grand Final-winning team will each receive a $50 voucher from the local bottle shop, with the runners up to receive a $30 voucher.
Magpies President Peter Collins is hoping this day will send off a poor season in style, “Yeah mate, it hasn’t been our best, but next Saturday should be good fun. We’re encouraging as many of the boys who aren’t playing to come and watch, have a BBQ lunch, sink a ton of piss, and sledge the s**t out of the boys on the field. We should make an absolute killing at the bar to make up for no semi-finals.”
The Gurgler presents stories of the Park Cricketer, where we explore the lower reaches of the great game of cricket from the suburban ovals and rural grounds across Australia.
Angrier than a room full of Fox League writers, ducking for cover like a Melbourne Storm Assistant Coach, with a better Round 1 record than Craig Bellamy, trying his best to not lash out at kids at NRL games while wondering what he’s done wrong not to be a current NRL mascot, sitting on the extended bench and not expecting to play for the good of the team, and getting the full support of the board, it’s time for the weekly Rugby League rant from The Gurgler’s NRL Donkey. The NRL Donkey provides his NRL Donkey’s 2026 NRL Round 1 Expert Tips Part Two as well as offers an alternative, slightly unhinged view full of sass of the world of rugby league and beyond for another week.
The NRL Donkey’s 2026 NRL Round 1 Weekly Rant Part Two
Instead of being excited for part two of Round 1 of the NRL this weekend, it almost feels like a bit of a left down, the six games almost over-shadowed by the relentless shinyness of Las Vegas.
But it shouldn’t as the six games are pretty good. Well, maybe not Cronulla v Gold Coast, that is barely one for their fans let alone the neutral. But overall it’s a good round. But the NRL don’t really care, as they let the whole NRL competition go to sh!t for two months for three Origin games, so overshadowing six NRL games isn’t that bad.
This weekend opens up with Melbourne and Parramatta, and given the Eels return to form late last season and in the pre season challenge, combined with Craig Bellamy never losing a Round 1 game, it should be a cracker. And hopefully a cracker as in crack in the glass of the Storm coaching box window. Not that I care if Melbourne win or lose, but I do care if Craig Bellamy goes berserk about any of it. It’s one of my five favourite things about rugby league along with a kicking duel, Ray Stone, anytime any PNG team plays and intercepts.
Friday sees repeats of Grand Finals, one from 2002 and other from 2023, and since we can’t have a Grand Final in week one from last year’s GF, why not repeat a few from other years. Not that the NRL probably set out to do that. The NRL be rubbing their hands together with the prospect of a full house at Suncorp as much as Channel Nein are rubbing other places at the thought of the Broncos on a Friday night.
Most people seem to like Canberra, and dislike Manly, so that makes the other Saturday game plenty interesting. We get our first look at whether the Raiders 2025 season was just a fluke or not. Hopefully not, as it is a rare story about something good coming out of Canberra.
And Sunday offers just one game, but Dolphins v Rabbitohs is good enough to hold it’s own as a standalone game, with enough narratives to fill a few NRL360’s.
Just writing about it gets me in the mood. And luckily you can sample my match by match thoughts below.
But what about last weekend in Las Vegas?
Just when you get nervous about a new season the NRL manages to reassure with some old favourites.
Like the Cowboys being ordinary for most of a game and Todd Payten immediately becoming the first coach sacked again.
Like The Bunker making the wrong decision for a change.
Like Cooper Cronk dulling up the Commentary box.
Like Fox League and friends going out of their way to say how great the Dragons were, and how great the Flanagans are, and how unlucky the Dragons were, and how Dragons the Dragons are.
It’s good to know that not everything will change ahead of a new NRL Season. And it makes this article easy when I can just copy and paste from last year’s gripes.
The only thing most were not expecting was Newcastle to play as good as they did. Especially after the dross they served up at times in 2025. They can enjoy their time at the top of the ladder ignoring the fact that Kalyn Ponga won’t play that well every week, or possibly again until closer to Origin selection time. By then they may not need him anyway, as their three halves on show did plenty. Newcastle fans will be comforted knowing that every winner of Las Vegas games before this season went on to make the finals.
But let’s let Newcastle be Newcastle for now and enjoy their time at the top. Who knows, it might not be for long. Unlike the rest of this weekly preview.
The NRL Donkey’s 2026 NRL Round 1 Expert Tips Part Two
GAME BY GAME THOUGHTS
THURSDAY 8pm – MELBOURNE v PARRAMATTA
Surely no one, or no team would dare to break Craig Bellamy’s Round 1 form. If so, they’ll need the fastest transport available. Thankfully the Grand Prix is on. This game is kind of interesting aside from running away from Craig Bellamy given the back and forths over Zac Lomax. What odds that will be conveniently settled after Round 1.
Melbourne by 10
FRIDAY 6pm – WAHS v ROOSTERS
Everything points to the Roosters winning, but then there’s the nagging stats of the Wahs perfect record v Roosters on a Friday. And the nagging dislike of the Roosters. And DCE doesn’t help.
Warriors by 4
FRIDAY 8pm – BRISBANE v PENRITH
Quite the game on offer on Friday night at Suncorp, with the Broncos back where Channel Nein love them, and a sell out apparently no less. Penrith’s woeful Round 1 away form is a surprise, but it might be cancelled out by the Broncos’ woeful recent record at Suncorp Stadium v Penrith.
Penrith by 2
SATURDAY 5:30pm – CRONULLA v GOLD COAST
If there was a 3pm timeslot available for this week, this game would have filled it, the game has passive listen on the radio as background noise vibes about it.. Gold Coast meanwhile might be threatening to achieve something this season, and looked good in pre season. Cronulla will probably make the finals without challenging for the title. There’s gotta be at least one upset in these six Part Two games for Round 1, so this may as well be it.
Gold Coast by 6
SATURDAY 7:30pm – MANLY v CANBERRA
If Jamal Fogarty is the most interesting thing about this game then that says a lot about both sides. Both coaches do have it in them to get a bit feisty and entertain the masses. As for the game, I’d much rather Canberra win and Manly not win.
Canberra by 6
SUNDAY 4pm – DOLPHINS v SOUTH SYDNEY @ Suncorp Stadium
A Wayne Bennett derby which will hopefully be decided by golden point just to annoy him.
Dolphins by 1
READ MORE: THE GURGLER’S FULL NRL 2026 GEAR
We’ve been working hard for you to bring you the 2026 NRL Season Previews from every angle and angel possible. But never Jo Angel.
The rest of the NRL Round 1 gets underway this weekend in plain old regular locations like Melbourne, Brisbane and Manly, far away from the glitz and shiny excitables of Las Vegas and sadly for the second week in a row, too far from the Vegas of the West – Rooty Hill RSL. Talking of a lack of glitz, our 2026 NRL Round 1 Tips Predictions & Stats Preview Part Two is simply taking care of business and working overtime.
Each week this season we will offer up a quick preview glance for each match, throw in a bunch of barely interesting stats, and mix in a pinch of opinion, plus throw in our weekly predictions like chicken salt on hot chips and you have something that seagulls and humans will fight over.
2026 NRL Round 1 Tips – Part Two
Here are our tips for the week ahead. How did we get to here? By going through all the visuals and stats below.
MELBOURNE by 8
WARRIORS by 2
PENRITH by 4
GOLD COAST by 8
CANBERRA by 6
DOLPHINS by 12
2026 NRL Round 1 Tips Part Two Weekly H2H Stats Summary Cheat Sheets
Looking for a cheat sheet for the weekend’s upcoming games?
Here’s as much information that we could cram into one size fits all visual.
Plus our famed barely interesting stats all in the one place for this week of fewer games.
2026 NRL Round 1 Tips Part Two – Weekly Barely Interesting Stats
Our famed barely interesting stats all in the one place for you convenience and arguments.
THURSDAY 8pm – MELBOURNE v PARRAMATTA
Melbourne last lost a Round 1 clash in 2001, a mere 23 wins in a row.
Melbourne have won six in a row v Parramatta, and passed 40 points three times in that run.
Melbourne have won 15 of their last 17 Thursday games since 2023. Their overall record of W38 L8 since 1998 is pretty good too.
But Melbourne’s home Thursday record can’t be beat, and it hasn’t. 20 wins from 20 games.
Parramatta lead Melbourne 3-2 in the Thursday night H2H. All five of those games were at CommBank Stadium.
FRIDAY 6pm – WAHS v ROOSTERS
Roosters have won nine of their last 10 games v Warriors, but not the last game in 2025 where the Wahs won 14-6 on a Friday.
Fridays are a good day for the Warriors to play the Roosters, they are unbeaten in three games.
The Warriors have lost their only two Round 1 games at Mt Smart Stadium on a Friday.
Roosters Round 1 form isn’t great with four wins from their last 13 Round 1 games. And they have lost their last three Roun 1 games away.
Roosters are W3 L4 away on a Friday last season, Warriors were W4 L2 at home on a Friday last season.
FRIDAY 8pm – BRISBANE v PENRITH
Penrith have won only one of their ten Round 1 away games, that was in 2006. Brisbane’s 50-50 record at home for Round 1 is better.
Broncos were W2 L2 at home on a Friday last season. On any day at home they finished the season with a W7 L1 record from June.
Since Covid in 2020, Penrith are W9 L2 v Broncos.
Last season’s 16-14 Finals win over Penrith broke a run of six straight losses at Suncorp Stadium for the Broncos v Penrith.
Broncos have won six of the last eight games v Penrith at Suncorp Stadium on a Friday.
Penrith (W1 D1 L2) won just one game of four away to Queensland team last season.
SATURDAY 5:30pm – CRONULLA v GOLD COAST
Gold Coast have won 1/7 Round 1 games on a Saturday. Cronulla have lost their last four Round 1 clashes on a Saturday.
Cronulla have won 12 of their last 13 games v Gold Coast going back to 2018.
Sharks have won their last seven games at Shark Park.
Cronulla won all three home games v Qld sides in 2025 by a combined 110-46.
Sharks were W5 L2 on a Saturday at home in 2025.
Gold Coast were W1 L5 away to Sydney teams in 2025. Since 2022, the Titans are W4 L20 away to Sydney teams.
Gold Coast have won just one of their last 10 games away to Sydney teams on a Saturday.
SATURDAY 7:30pm – MANLY v CANBERRA
Manly have won their first round clash, which has been at home, for the last three seasons. Canberra have lost their last six Round 1 away clashes on a Saturday, with their last win coincidentally at Manly in 2006.
It’s six wins piece on a Saturday between these sides. And it’s three wins a piece at Manly on a Saturday.
Manly finished the season by winning five of their last six home games.
Manly also finished the season by winning six of their last seven at home on a Saturday.
SUNDAY 4pm – DOLPHINS v SOUTH SYDNEY @ Suncorp Stadium
South Sydney have lost their last five games at Suncorp Stadium, with a last win in 2023.
Souths are W2 L4 at Suncorp on a Sunday. Dolphins are W5 L3 on a Sunday at Suncorp Stadium.
Dolphins have a decent W8 L3 record at Suncorp Stadium v Sydney teams. It’s 2/2 on a Sunday v Sydney teams, one of those wins was their first ever game in 2023.
Souths have won just two of their past ten games on a Sunday.
Unlike 2025, there should be no cyclone to affect this game.
Bonus Round 1 Stats
Some key stats ahead of the other first games of the NRL season.
READ MORE: THE GURGLER’S FULL NRL 2026 GEAR
We’ve been working hard for you to bring you the 2026 NRL Season Previews from every angle and angel possible. But never Jo Angel.
Faster than an Aston Martin, with a compression rate better than any other car, harder than Russell Crowe in Gladiator, slightly less dramatic than Drive to Survive, but somehow still more likeable than most Team Principals, it’s the F1 Donkey with his unique view on F1 and more. Before each race The F1 Donkey puts the ass in sass and unloads his alternative, slightly unhinged thoughts on F1 including this week’s Bold 2026 Australian Grand Prix Predictions and opinion.
The F1 Donkey’s Pre Australian Grand Prix Thoughts
The first race of the season is here and I almost can’t wait. I’m somewhere between hurry up because I’m bored and I’m looking forward to the first practice sessions to see the cars in proper action. Well, except for Mercedes, Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari who will all probably sandbag. And then sadly for Ferrari they won’t go faster and we/they realise they weren’t actually sandbagging.
Talking of sand, I bet the F1 bosses they started the season in Melbourne and not the desert of Bahrain this year given the US-Iran war and Iran sending our retaliatory missiles like a man at the local playing darts who has had 15 too many pints. Other people should be happy too – the moaning Europeans about having to get up early to watch the race, the alternative of nothing should keep them quiet. Oscar Piastri should be happy too as he would be more popular in Melbourne than Bahrain, well you would think he is. Valtteri Bottas might give him a run across the rest of Australia and the world, but surely not Piastri’s home town.
But you can see why Bottas is so popular. His American eagle speedo shoot on an Australian beach, and the eagles head exactly where you would want the focus is pure social media-ing genius. Bottas is so in right now, this website’s 2026 Bold F1 2026 Predictions can see Bottas getting a Late Night TV show. And he’d be good too.
Wars and oil crises aside, Melbourne is a great place to have the first race anyway. There’s close walls and limited run off to punish the smallest mistakes, rather than the open expanse of the modern Bahrain circuit, where F1 fans will have to wait 15 minutes after qualifying to see if one car has run 3mm too wide around one of the 17 corners. Run a little more than 3mm off the track in Melbourne and you’ll probably end up in the wall. Where you belong.
And even though rain is forecast, it will probably still happen, and at the most inconvenient time for drivers and teams trying to ensure one driver has a better chance to win over the other. Although, now that their favourite has won a World Championship, hopefully the folk at one team can calm the f—k down this season.
Although being in Melbourne, and have a world away, there could be travel issues, given that the favoured route for most European based F1 folk would be through the middle east. Netflix is they were smart enough could have one of those Amazing Race F1 Specials, as the rival drivers and team try and get to Melbourne via different methods and destinations. Trying different challenges along the way to past checkpoints and onto the next leg of travelling.
For Lance Stroll that challenge could be making it to Q2,which he would fail.
Talking of Stroll, the mess that appears to be Aston Martin will be one of the talking points, as the Adrian Newey inspired team are in danger of being slower than a team who hasn’t started a race yet. Newey is a genius, but not every car is a winner. One of his McLarens never actually raced. Maybe Adrian Newey is secretly looking to build a modern day six wheeler. Which would be excellent.
No doubt the other main talking point before, during and after the race weekend will be all the new technology on the cars. With drivers having to lift to charge batteries, and move moveable wings, and hit pass mode, indicate when turning, turn on safety lights, do a reverse park into their pitstop when changing tyres, and monitor car performance and the Dow Jones, the drivers will barely have time to drive the cars around the circuits. And with all that going on, how do F1 bosses expect the drivers to have enough brain power and energy left to overtake each other, which I presume is the point to all these new things.
Thankfully Sky F1’s technical team are quite good at explaining things, not as good as my mate Gee Harduar and possibly Grok, but good enough. And Grok will probably be too busy handling requests for shirtless Grek Norman.
Aside from watching the first practice and seeing the cars for real for the first time, I can’t wait for the start.
The footage from practice starts in Testing show that the starts could be twice as chaotic this season and more, which is always a good thing. Nothing like a good three to four cars elimination at the first corner, followed by jumbled up order for those who had to take evasive action. Then once that dust settles it’s washed away by some random rain.
Ahhh, why would you want the opening Grand Prix anywhere else. Maybe if the Iran war drags on and Bahrain and Saudi Arabia are not feasible, they can stay and run the Grand Prix around the other way of Albert Park, making it more interesting and more unsafe. Or even better, tell Adelaide to get their old track warmed up and ready for action. People loved the Adelaide Grand Prix. And while you’re here, why not give New Zealand the Grand Prix it deserves. What better way to celebrate a McLaren double title than a race in the country of the man who started the team. There we go turning crisis into opportunity. Or cris-itunity or something Homer Simpson called it. Or something like that.
But enough of that for now, and more of the bold Team by Team predictions for this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix.
The NRL Donkey’s Bold 2026 Australian Grand Prix Predictions
And here they are, in a convenient team by team format, so you can ignore them all at your convenience or peril. Depending on the outcome of our prediction.
McLAREN
A double podium, with potential for some early season, tone-setting team orders.
RED BULL
Max Verstappen DNF, Isack Hadjar DNF.
MERCEDES
Will sandbag until the last laps of Q2, take pole position and stuff up the race.
FERRARI
Maybe they’ll come out and win this race and surprise us all. Lewis Hamilton has won here a million times, and Leclerc and Sainz have also taken Ferrari wins here.
WILLIAMS
Could be the most midfield race weekend this season.
ALPINE
Too many grass run offs and walls for Colapinto not to partake. Gasly has a poor record in Australia and will probably join him in the wall at some stage.
RACING BULLS
Arvid Lindblad will do well to make a worse impression on debut than Isack Hadjar did last season. But that turned out all right for him. Maybe a spectacular intra-team clash at turn one with Liam Lawson will see his debut judged as even worse than 2025 Hadjar?
ASTON MARTIN
Lance Stroll to qualify slower than at least one Cadillac, and Alonso won’t see Q2 daylight either. Neither driver to see double figure laps in the race for various reasons.
HAAS
Reckon Oliver Bearman is good for a top 8 qualifying effort and points. Esteban Ocon, less so.
SAUBER
Nico Hulkenberg to make it seven seventh places at the Australian Grand Prix.
CADILLAC
They may have appeared hopelessly slow at times in Testing, but first race, potential weather and chaos is custom made for one of those stealth race days from Sergio Perez to score a couple of points on debut for the US team. Valtteri Bottas will be almost as popular as Oscar Piastri.
READ ALL OUR F1 2026 GEAR & MORE
We’ve been busy compiling the widest array of F1 2026 Season previews we could afford.
Excited about the first race of the season? Concerned that you won’t be able to keep up with all the new technology? Curious to know the Melbourne weather? Wondering how long into the first race weekend the sandbagging will last. Then let our 2026 Australian F1 Grand Prix Prix-View answer some of those big questions and more that you didn’t ask for.
The Gurgler’s 2026 Australian F1 Grand Prix Prix-View brings some thoughts on what the race weekend ahead might bring, and we throw in more than a few barely interesting stats.
Essentially a quick summary of what a casual F1 fan needs in the shortest possible time for your convenience.
And for F1 opinion, stand by for the F1 Donkey’s Bold Predictions and Opinion where no one and nothing is safe. And like the cars around him on the grid, Lance Stroll.
2026 Australian F1 Grand Prix Prix-view – Race Potential Rating
The Gurgler does like to use some obscure drivers in our Race previews and report, so who better to use than Teo Fabi to determine a race rating system.
So before each race we give a rating out of ten for four key category that are loosely based on each letter of Teo Fabi’s surname. Don’t know who Teo Fabi is, you should.
FAST? 7 / 10 – It’s fast enough in a modern way, and the walls of the parkland circuit make it feel faster than it would otherwise. Plus the sweeping turns on the far side of the circuits are plenty fast and good.
ACTION? 10 / 10 – It’s a track where stuff usually happens. It’s the first race of the season, and with the added mystery of whether the cars and drivers can handle all the new technology, and in a city with very random weather, it should be a solid mix for action.
BIG HISTORY? – 8 / 10 – The Australian Grand Prix has been going on for 41 years this season, and it’s 30 since the move to Albert Park. So plenty of history. The Albert Park circuit has it’s own aura, but older fans still love Adelaide, as do Moto GP Bosses.
INCLEMENT WEATHER? – 5 /10 – The Weather Channel says as not much of a chance for rain, 6-15% across the three days and Partly Cloudy the official description. But it is Melbourne and the weather could end up anything.
RACE POTENTIAL RATING 75% – First race of the season, on a track where it could rain anytime, or anything can happen, with all new technology that is complicated, the 75% might be under-cooked.
2026 Australian F1 Grand Prix Prix-view – Stats Summary
Want to know if your favourite driver for this weekend is a master of the track or the track is a master of them? Here then are some barely interesting facts and stats.
BEST OF STATS
The Australian Grand Prix has the most different winners (current drivers) of any Grand Prix with seven different victors.
Max Verstappen has only won here once. He is due a DNF too. His last four races have ended up Podium-DNF-Podium (Win)-DNF-Podium.
If Nico Hulkenberg finishes 7th this season in Australia it will be the 7th time he has done so. The Hulk is good for points though, he has scored in all but one of his last nine races at Albert Park.
The same can not be said for Pierre Gasly who has scored point once in six attempts here.
Of all the drivers to make more than one start at Albert Park, all have made Q3 at least once, and all have missed Q1 at least once.
Driver Stats – Australian F1 Grand Prix
Team Stats – Australian F1 Grand Prix
History Stats – Australian F1 Grand Prix
99 = a DNF. Grid position 20 is overstated as that was also used for cars starting in pitlane. Results from all races for long term history and from 2021 from Grid to Race positions. stated.
Faster than an Alpine, with more team rules than any type of fruit, with more hope of getting out of Q1 than certain drivers, and speaking only just a little more sense than Danica Patrick, it’s the F1 Donkey with his unique view on F1 and more. Before each race The F1 Donkey has put the ass in sass and unloads his alternative, slightly unhinged thoughts on F1, and he’s back to do it again in 2026 starting with the F1 Donkey’s 2026 F1 Season Predictions and Opinion.
First of all he’ll offer up his opinion on each team ahead of the new season, then offer up more gripes and opinion about the rest of what the 2026 season could offer. As only he can. Team by Team getting a spray.
F1 Donkey’s 2026 F1 Season Thoughts
Ahh, it’s that time of the year, F1 Testing is over but the first race is still over a while away, and the time in between will be filled with people coming up to my barn, or in the local park where there never fails to be an abandoned shopping trolley, or in the streets as I make my way to the local pub to discuss Formula 1, mainly on the back of Netflix dropping their latest season. Which by the way has too much Zak Brown and Christian Horner.
I shouldn’t complain about having more people who want to talk Colapinto, Albon, and Bortoleto, it is a good thing. Especially given the company in the barn is dull at best. Try living next to a goat that jsut destroys shit all day. But then again, no one really wants to talk about Colapinto do they, not even the goats, unless it’s the business manager of the driver who wants to white-ant him during 2026. Or maybe Jack Doohan, preceded by a “F**k”. But with Flavio in charge, managers might not need to help get Colapinto fired.
But where were/are these newly converted Netflix F1 fans when I wanted to talk Theirry Boutsen in the off season. Or the rivalry between Eddie Cheever and Riccardo Patrese at Alfa Romeo in the 1980’s, or the lack of fortune of the Zakspeed F1 team who made their own turbo engines and introduced Yamaha power into F1. At least Netflix has the excuse of all those 1980’s events happening before the internet was created.
Talking of Eddie Cheever and all things 1980’s – here one of the website’s better pieces, 1980’s F1 Explained – Cheever’d….for those who want to kill a little pre Australian GP time.
Some would just say that I am a bitter and old jerk of a donkey that should forget about the past and be thankful I have any friends. Although they are right, it still hurts. And I don’t have any friends.
But moving onto 2026 I’m not sure I’ve looked forward to a season less in quite a while. Well since the era where it was a matter of how many races Lewis Hamilton would win and how he would dress like someone giving a kid the keys to an adult dress up box.
I should be intrigued by the new cars, with new engines and all the new toys and battery saving devices and wing vents etc. But when I hear that drivers might have to lift off on a straight so they can try and overtake it hurts my brain. Not that it is particularly hard to hurt my brain because it is so small. But why would the leading motor sport category in the world want their cars to go slower on a straight, just so they can overtake later. Sounds stupid, or maybe I am because I don’t understand it.
The only reason a driver should drive slow on purpose is a good old fashioned brake test in man act of pure rage in a practice session that doesn’t matter. Like old times.
Maybe I’m just a simple F1 loving donkey, who loves his Keke Rosberg types who on occasion finish a cigarette, then jump in a car and set an F1 all time speed record in qualifying within a few minutes. Or Gilles Villeneuve who not only had to be the fastest driver in history, but the fastest driver in history of every corner of every race of every season. There’s no way he would ever lift in a straight to save battery power.
With so much stuff going on other than driving, why not go the next step and add bananas and mushrooms and those turtle shell things and have Formula One become a giant MarioKart World Championship. You could even have that ghost mode where the car disappears. Much like Lance Stroll most weekends when Q2 arrives.
The only benefit from all the technology appears to be that making a good start, or a start at all in F1 this season will be really difficult. So we may see a real variable that will shake up the grid, by having more cars stuck to it. Although, fair to point out that we don’t want crashes like Riccardo Paletti’s in the 1982 Canadian Grand Prix. The death of a driver is very bad, but some start line chaos is good. Very good.
Maybe I shouldn’t sit here and moan from my barn about Formula 1 with all the political trouble around the world, particularly in the middle east. With Iran potentially causing a few cancellations if the respective bombing and missile-ing doesn’t stop. Although I won’t miss the Bahrain Grand Prix, and the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix I could give or take too. Even better if even the threat of a missile getting as far as Miami could see the Miami Grand Prix cancelled too, that would be great.
Because you just know that F1 will probably follow FIFA, Noel Peace Prize winners and other bodies of lesser importance and award the US President some token award in his home state. If it is presented by Mr Straight Face Oscar Piastri for a few laughs then I’m in.
But I bet the F1 bosses are happy the season starts in Melbourne and not Bahrain like it has. So for those who moan about the early start for the Australian GP in Europe should quit their griping. Much like I should and get on with my team by team thoughts for the season ahead and start preparing some Australian Grand Peix opinion that I’m sure my new Netflix friends can’t wait for.
F1 Donkey’s 2026 F1 Season Predictions and Opinion
And if the above wasn’t enough, here’s the F1 Donkey’s Team by Team view on the season ahead.
TEAMS
MCLAREN
There’s no reason they can’t win both titles again, but there’s lots of reasons I don’t want them to. Papaya Rules, Zac Brown, Lando Norris’ dad who looks like an evil character from a Harry Potter movie, Sky F1 bias, the colour Orange, their social media offering, attempts to make Oscar Piastri super interesting and attempts to make Lando Norris a style guru. But it will be interesting to see the dynamics between the drivers now that one of them has won a championship.
MERCEDES
A new era and it looks like Mercedes have nailed it this time. Well that’s people are saying, that there’s a special trick with something in the engine that I’m too stupid to understand. Sounds like it is a better idea than the zero sidepod solution last rule change that ruined them for a few seasons. Well, that and Lewis Hamilton’s form falling off a cliff before he took that special recipe to Ferrari. One does wonder how much sandbagging was going on in Testing ahead of this season. Plenty I suspect. The fun thing will be to see if the teenager can land a Championship ahead of the George Russell who has patiently waited for a decade.
RED BULL
The change to their own/Ford engine doesn’t look like it has slowed Red Bull down, but the new technology of the car has slowed Max Verstappen’s enthusiasm for F1 a bit. Maybe he’ll retire after one season of the new rules and go and enter every major motorsport event in 2027, and he’ll probably win them all. As for the worst, career killing seat in F1 – being Max Verstappen’s team mate at Red Bull – the team look in the best shape for a while with Isack Hadjar taking on the job. Be a shame if it doesn’t work, as HAdjar look the most promising in a while.
FERRARI
Ferrari showed glimpses of speed and competence in Testing, and whilst I hope it continues into the season proper, it’s hard to trust Ferrari to do so. We need the red cars involved in a genuine Championship battle. If it is another underwhelming season, one wonder if either driver will be around in 2027. Lewis Hamilton “retiring” and Charles Leclerc looking for a better drive, or a bigger cut of the Drive to Survive profits.
WILLIAMS
Despite two decent drivers, a storied history, being liked by nearly all F1 fans, the occasional podium looks like the ceiling. More Carlos Sainz is more, so we’ll take it.
ASTON MARTIN
Not for the first time, Alonso has a car that feels like a wheelbarrow because of a new Honda engine and how pleased he will be throughout 2026 and nearly a decade after the last experience. Not even Adrian Newey looks like he can save the season. The only upside is that if the 2026 car is no world beater, at least Lance Stroll won’t be World Champion. And reports are his dad, and career saviour is getting bored of the trouble that Aston Martin is in. So maybe no more Stroll after this season.
AUDI
At least Audi will have an excuse if they are a little slow this season having a brand new engine from a company who have never made an F1 engine before. But they have The Hulk, and if he can get busted-arse Saubers onto the podium who knows. Bortoleto seems quite competent too. All in all, they are a non-offensive, nice team to follow.
HAAS
Could be a team on the rise, with improvements shown in testing, a great new paint job, another year experience under the belt of Oliver Bearman, and Captain Surly aka Esteban Ocon’s overall experience. I wonder if it is the arrival of a new USA team that has lit the fire. Would be nice if Haas v Cadillac turns into a big rivalry to match the old Horner v Wolff. But then again, Haas will probably sell out to Toyota.
RACING BULLS
It really doesn’t matter.
CADILLAC
So good to have the excitement of a new team in F1, it has been far too long. F1 has become too commercial compared to the glory days of the 1980’s where all you needed was an upturned bathtub, add wheels, and Judd engine, some cigarette money and you had a team. These days you need a Top 100 company backing, beg for five years, build your engine, and hire Sergio Perez to get a team into F1. They did a good in Testing not to be in a different time zone over a lap. Aston Martin will be very wary of them early. Balancing out the corporate colours and Sergio Perez’s blandness with a dual paintjob and new social media star Valtteri Bottas.
ALPINE
Huh, I genuinely couldn’t remember the 11th team for an hour while planning this season preview. It ended up being Alpine that I forgot. Figures, they are forgettable. So bad they dumped their own engine and kept Franco Colapinto for some reason. At least with Flavio still in charge, he’ll be lucky to see the summer break as an F1 driver.
Another year of F1 awaits, and another year of wild opinion and bold predictions will be served up over the next few weeks or so by so many people, most of them pretenders, but no one does it better than our resident sporting prediction guru Tipstradamus, and he’s here to offer up this year’s serving of Tipstradamus’ Bold 2026 F1 Season Predictions.
Our resident sports-sayer Tipstradamus otherwise known as Gregstradamus is wheeled out only once a year, from a subterranean abode somewhere in the Great Dividing Range shaped like the Space City Shopping Centre in Kallangur that has a TV room with a 360 degree array of televisions showing eight different Retro Formula One races on YouTube, all with Murray Walker commentary.
Tipstradamus has harnessed the knowledge of watching every race from 1978 as well as his super natural sporting insights to come up with the below Bold 2026 F1 Season Predictions.
Where possible, we’ve got AI aka Grok to imagine some of the scenarios.
Tipstradamus’ Bold 2026 F1 Season Predictions
MAX VERSTAPPEN AND GEORGE RUSSELL WILL FIGHT OUT THE MOST BITTER TITLE FIGHT IN YEARS – AND IT WILL END IN FISTICUFFS AT THE QATAR GRAND PRIX
It seems that the new regulations for F1 in 2026 might favour Mercedes and given the form of George Russell in 2025 in an inferior car, he will be one of the big chances for Championship glory in 2026. Also given the Red Bull car in 2025 was barely faster than a wheelbarrow in the hands of non-Verstappen drivers in 2025, yet somehow Max Verstappen came within a brainfade of winning the 2025 title, he will be at the front again in 2026.
It also seems that the two drivers don’t like each other much. Maybe that’s media hype or maybe it is genuine. We boldly predict the latter, and this Championship tussle will be twice as bitter as the Verstappen-Hamilton rivalry of the early 2020’s. There will be clashes and crashes throughout the season, and will culminate in another crash on the first lap of the Qatar Grand Prix, and the two drivers will have had enough of each other by this stage and punch on at the side of the track for the world’s amusement.
OLIVER BEARMAN WILL END TWO CAREERS BY THE END OF 2026
First of all will be Esteban Ocon, who will be thrashed by the young Brit in 2026, to such an extent that Ocon will be replaced before the end of the season. And with the rivalry between the two American teams growing throughout 2026, and Haas getting a sniff that they might throw Colton Herta into a 2027 Cadillac, Haas will go for Jak Crawford to fill in for the last races of the season, starting with the US GP in Austin.
The second career will be Lewis Hamilton’s, as Ferrari realise they may as well pay a tenth of the salary to a driver that ends up more capable in a Ferrari than Hamilton has turned out to be.
VALTTERI BOTTAS WILL END UP HOSTING A LATE NIGHT SHOW
Valtteri Bottas’ change from dullest man on earth to highly amusing social media content creator will go up a notch in 2026 as he starts his first season for the US based Cadillac team. American will grow to Bottas’ style, especially his choice of patriotic American swimming wear.
Whilst the 2026 F1 season will be a mild Nottas-style disappointment mostly with flashes of Bottas-style speed, he will be picked up in the off season and given a very late night slot. Whilst the initials episodes look like the McBain talk show from The Simpsons, US audiences warm to Bottas, including President Trump, until he finds out that Finland is not a US state and is deported to Austria by ICE, as they are unable to determine the difference between Austria and Australia, where he spends his summers.
LANCE STROLL WILL FAIL TO QUALIFY UNDER 107 IN TWO OF THE OPENING EIGHT RACES
Despite the brilliance of Adrian Newey the early impressions on the Aston Martin is that it is on the slow and difficult side. Whilst we’re sure it will come good, we’re not so sure about one of their drivers doing much with the good car, or the bad one. The ugly too. With throw-away talk of being over four seconds slower, Lance Stroll will really struggle to get under the 107% rule, given how ineffective he is of getting out of Q1 and Brazilian Gravel Traps. So another of our 2026 F1 Bold Predictions is Lance Stroll to fail to qualify for two of the opening six races. Of course having a moneybags for a father/team owners means they’ll find a way to put him on the grid.
It might take a while in 2026, but much like 2025 Carlos Sainz will grow into the season, eventually becoming the dominant Williams driver, a regular top six qualifier and point scorer. But he will impress all, and Willaims fand and well-wishers by winning a Grand Prix in the second half of the season. Maybe a street track like Azerbaijan or Singapore. Alex Albon will keep him honest and grab a podium himself, and the Sainz-Albon partnership becomes the new Hakkinen-Coulthard.
MAX VERSTAPPEN WILL WIN THE CHAMPIONSHIP THEN RETIRE TO GO AN ATTEMPT THE 24 HOUR LE MANS, INDY 500 AND BATHURST 1000 IN 2027.
Driven to irritation by the 2026 spec cars, but still good enough to master it all, Max Verstappen will take out the 2026 Championship for Red Bull Ford, then announce his retirement from F1. With Red Bull’s blessing as the energy drink company sponsors all three attempts.
Max Verstappen then bores of those racing events and decides to take part in the Red Bull Air Race series, and wins that too.
RACING BULLS DRIVERS TO HAVE THREE INTRA-TEAM ON TRACK CLASHES ON TRACK
Liam Lawson is a hard racer, and appears to be a reasonably grumpy guy, so he is always a good chance of getting involved in an on track clash or two. This year he has another F2 rookie as a team mate, one who’ll be trying to prove his worth in the cut throat Red Bull system. Especially since his F2 results kind of don’t warrant a seat over better performers from 2025. So with so much at stake and a lot of chest beating going on, risks will be taken, and carbon fibre will fly. As will the tempers and tantrums. And the smiles at Netflix who don’t have to manufacture an intra-team rivalry.
THE AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX WILL SEE EIGHT CARS FAIL TO MAKE IT AROUND THE FIRST LAP
The most recent test at Bahrain saw the F1 drivers attempt to do a new start with all the new gadgets and it proved a bit of a disaster. Thankfully the first race of the season is in Melbourne which should guarantee a green track, high possibility of wet weather and first race nerves to go with new, mostly untried technology. All mixed together means chaos with stalled cars, first and third corner prangs, and at least one Alpine in the wall on the back straight. Most likely Crashapinto.
SERGIO PEREZ WILL SCORE A PODIUM
As much as some F1 people lampooned Sergio Perez in his final Red Bull years, not us, we’re way to professional for that, Perez was and has always been a great driver of cars in the midfield, and is one of the best of all time of hauling midfield cars into podium gaining positions. Given recent testing of the Cadillac shows that is more lower midfield than embarrassing F2 or Mastercard Lola F1 from 1997 slow, it means the car will be competitive enough. And if a car is competitive enough, and a race is chaotic enough, then the opportunity is there for Perez to take full advantage like he knows how.
AN INCIDENT INVOLVING LANDO NORRIS’ FATHER AND AN UNNAMED F1 DRIVER LEADS TO ALL FATHER BEING BANNED FROM F1 PIT LANE AND GARAGES
Some people say that there is way too much focus on the parent of F1 drivers during an F1 weekend and we’d agree. Lando Norris’ father appears to be the universally most disliked, and this will lead to conflict during the early parts of the season. A flash point caused by arrogance at the Monaco Grand Prix will be rumoured and true, but no details of the event will ever get out, with the F1 bosses redacting evidence quicker than a US government employee. But in a usual knee-jerk reaction kind of way the FIA president will ban all parents from pitlane for the entire Grand Prix weekend until after the race has finished. This may mean less crosses to parents during a race instead of people who matter, which is also a good thing. It may lead to less hard truths from Jos Verstappen over a weekend, but he can make up for that elsewhere.
DONALD TRUMP WILL BE ON THE MIAMI GRAND PRIX PODIUM AND THE FIA WILL AWARD HIM THE RACE WINNER’S TROPHY AND GIVE THE F1 DRIVER AND TEAM THE REPLICA.
This is after the FIA stage a press conference on the Friday morning to give Donald Trump the FIA Peace Prize, to make it a solid two huge sporting wins.
THE SECOND VERSION OF THE F1 MOVIE WILL FEATURE A RECREATION OF THE INFAMOUS NELSON PIQUET – ELISEO SALAZAR FIGHT AT THE 1982 GERMAN GRAND PRIX
The F1 movie was a raging success in 2025, on the back of the world’s growing obsession with Formula 1, and that movie featured a moment from F1 history where Martin Donnelly had a crash where it was hard to believe he would survive. Which begged the question for F1 Movie II, what other moment could they use for the new F1 based movie. Our bold prediction is they will use the infamous fight between Nelson Piquet and Eliseo Salazar from the 1982 German Grand Prix. And for fun, we have a sample of what to look forward to below.
THE NEW FORMULA ONE CARS BECOMING SO MUCH LIKE FORMULA E MEANS THAT ONE TEAM WILL DROP AN UNDERPERFORMING DRIVER IN FAVOUR OF A FORMULA E DRIVER AND HOPEFULLY THAT WILL BE DAN TICKTUM
As Max Verstappen has already compared the current F1 cars to Formula E, why wouldn’t a team replace one of their drivers with a Formula E driver. Given the driver under the most pressure is probably Franco Colapinto, and his boss at Alpine is the notoriously ruthless Flavio Briatore, you can easily see the Argentine driver getting the arse at some stage in 2026, if his results don’t improve, which they may not. Although, he did score zero points, so you’d expect some improvement.
But Briatore is also one to take a risk on drivers, and there’s no greater risk than hiring Dan Ticktum. The British driver is an angry, angry young man, which makes him more entertaining than most other drivers and sports people on earth. He’s also fast enough to cut it F1 too. The reason he probably hasn’t made it to F1 is that he’s kind of a jerk, but given that Flavio is kind of a jerk too, it’s all good. For him, for Alpine and F1 fans everywhere who like a bit of spice. As for compensation, I’m sure Netflix will chick in a few million, as he will repay them threefold. If fans like Gunther’s swearing at Haas, they are going to love Dan Ticktum.
The 2026 F1 Season isn’t far away, and this website has a range of 2026 previews and thoughts available for the upcoming season. But very few, if any, other websites will offer insights into the new season of Formula 1 like The Gurgler. We have secured the exclusive views of AI Grek Norman, harnessing the might of artificial intelligence with the magnificence of regular superhuman Greg Norman at last for the AI Grek Norman F1 2026 Season Verdict.
AI Grek Norman has been powered up with 100’s of F1 opinions heading into the 2026 season from various fan pages on Facebook, actually paid for the Autosport subscription, reads the excellent work of Michael Lomanato who is one of the very few excellent contributors of any sport on Fox Sports, and has decades of AI sports experience from his AI sporting career. So any other opinion on the 2026 F1 season will be inferior. And less manly. AI Grek has it all, and it’s all for you.
AI Grek Norman 2026 F1 Season Verdict
Here is the AI Grek Norman NRL 2026 Season verdict. Listed club by club. and in the order that AI Grek thinks they will finish on the 2026 NRL ladder at the end of the regular season.
McLAREN
AI GREK SAYS: AI Grek thinks if the Papaya Rules got messy last season it will be twice as bad in 2026.
MERCEDES
AI GREK SAYS: Mercedes have built a rocket, and AI Grek thinks they have been massively sandbagging in Testing and will be shooting for the moon come the first Grand Prix in Australia.
FERRARI
AI GREK SAYS: At first it seems like Ferrari were going to be a disaster, but after Testing AI Grek thinks perhaps their drivers will be duking it out for an occasional podium.
RED BULL
AI GREK SAYS: AI Grek can see Max Verstappen eventually cracking the sh!ts with these new F1 cars and leaving the sport to race everything else.
HAAS
AI GREK SAYS: Haas is more interesting than ever with an injection of Toyota. It may give them the kick they need to jump up the order.
WILLIAMS
AI GREK SAYS: For all the AI resources of AI Grek, there’s just nothing interesting enough to say about them heading into 2026.
RACING BULLS
AI GREK SAYS: Racing Bulls will always be a transformation of the Red Bull.
ALPINE
AI GREK SAYS: It may not feature me, but I respect Flavio and his showmanship. This is how I envisaged their proper 2026 F1 car launch. It may be the most interesting thing about Alpine all year.
AUDI
AI GREK SAYS: New muscle in the form of an Audi engine, and a fancy silver paintwork has AI Grek excited about their 2026’s F1 hopes.
ASTON MARTIN
AI GREK SAYS: Despite the brilliance of Adrian Newey and Fernando Alonso and the promise of the combination, with a new Honda engine all to themselves, it looks like the first few races are going to be a real drag. At least it means Lance Stroll is further away from a race winning car.
CADILLAC
AI GREK SAYS: AI Grek is channeling an Australian TV Character Mr Bad from E Street, which coincidentally has exactly the same paintjob and likely their performance will share the same name.
A new F1 season is here, one that should be filled with much excitement with new rules, new cars, new teams and a new driver/circuit. With more questions than answers available about the F1 year ahead, even with AI, we offer up Captain Hindsight’s Obvious 2026 F1 Season Predictions.
With so many other better websites and publications, and News Ltd, rolling out their “bold 2026 sporting predictions, The Gurgler is going down a different path, opting for the sensible know-it-all obviousness of Captain Hindsight to give the obvious sporting predictions in advance, before he would tell you that they were going to happen after the event.
Only Captain Hindsight can deliver the most obvious predictions, using his special 0-0 hindsight in advance powers to deliver opinions and predictions that are so obvious they can be found on breakfast TV shows.
No one does obvious 2026 Sporting Predictions like Captain Hindsight and The Gurgler.
Captain Hindsight’s Obvious 2026 F1 Season Predictions
MERCEDES AND RED BULL WILL BE STRANGELY QUICKER THAN THEIR TESTING TIMES
Having sand-bagged their way through testing, balancing out the need to impress slightly while not getting too excited about their supposed advantage that some say is outside the spirit of the regulations, both Mercedes and Red Bull will become mysteriously quicker in Q2 of the Australian Grand Prix, the traditional time where sand bags are removed and true new season pace revealed.
This will ensure that the FIA aren’t able to ban their tricks until later in the season.
FERRARI WILL BE CURIOUSLY SLOWER THAN THEIR TESTING TIMES WHEN THE SEASON STARTS PROPER
On the opposite end, Ferrari don’t want to ruin their hopes too early, so a few quick times in testing is the medicine they need to get people off their back, and until they can stuff up a race with strategy.
MERCEDES AND RED BULL WILL BE STRANGELY QUICKER THAN THEIR TESTING TIMES
Having sand-bagged their way through testing, balancing out the need to impress slightly while not getting too excited about their supposed advantage that some say is outside the spirit of the regulations, both Mercedes and Red Bull will become mysteriously quicker in Q2 of the Australian Grand Prix, the traditional time where sand bags are removed and true new season pace revealed.
LANDO NORRIS’ DAD WILL GET MORE COVERAGE THAN ESTEBAN OCON
There’s nothing F1 TV bosses like more than F1 parents, and despite being less interesting than Esteban Ocon, which takes some doing, Lando Norris’ dad will feature in more total screen time than the Haas driver in 2026.
SKY F1 PRESENTERS WILL MOAN ABOUT THE EAR:LY RACE TIME SLOTS FOR HALF THE COVERAGE
That’s despite the race being overwhelming balanced towards European viewers and massively biased towards British fans.
HAVING MARK WEBBER AROUND LESS IS A GOOD THING FOR OSCAR PIASTRI
No offence to Mark Webber, who we love forever, but having one of F1’s unluckiest men around you less when in a title fight, is probably a good thing. In addition to trying to get over perceived team biases with the driver who suffered it during his career, is probably a good thing.
A GRAND PRIX RUNNING UNDER A HIGHWAY WITH A FAKE HARBOUR IS USUALLY NOT A GREAT GRAND PRIX
The Miami Grand Prix is in the top one of our least favourite races, with very little to get excited about. Luckily they double down and have a sprint race too. It also coincides with Danica Patrick being part of the coverage, which never helps.
FERNANDO ALONSO WILL BE GRUMPY UNTIL SUMMER
Maybe because he’s getting older, or maybe because the Aston Martin appears to be 2026’s slowest car, despite Adrian Newey, but Fernando Alonso will be the grumpiest of bears in 2026.
LIAM LAWSON WILL BE GRUMPY ALL YEAR
Racing Bulls Liam Lawson will have a better car than Alonso, so less reason to scowl his way through every weekend. But he will scowl, and what are you gonna do about it?
LANCE STROLL WILL UNDERWHELM BUT KEEPS HIS JOB
No matter the appalling performance, or depth of gravel traps he’s imbedded in, Lance Stroll will remain in F1 for as long as his father can keep paying the bills at Aston Martin.
PEOPLE WILL OFTEN FORGET THAT WILLIAMS IS ON THE GRID
A lot of people tend to like Willaims, mostly nostalgia buffs, and fans of Alex Albon and Carlos which there are, and should be plenty of. But sometimes they are so in the middle pack of the F1 weekend that you forget they’re there. Not terrible enough to laugh at, not a distinctive enough livery to ooh and ahh at, and not fast enough to get in the way of the TV coverage. Sort of like F1’s middle child in a big, old fashioned Catholic family of 11.
DONALD TRUMP WILL MAKE A NUMBER OF IGNORANT TEXTS ABOUT F1
Why should F1 be excluded from the range of topics that get the Truth Social treatment.
RACING BULLS WILL CHANGE THEIR NAME TO SOMETHING ELSE
Red Bull’s second team will no doubt announce another ne name for the team towards the end of the season.
The 2026 F1 season is almost here, but thankfully to keep us F1 fans interested we’ve had testing sessions of varying importance and security, endless drivers hamming it up on social media, and the all-important new looks for all the F1 cars, which we are over-analysing with our 2026 F1 Liveries Ratings.
Our 2026 F1 Liveries Ratings Review goes through every team’s offering in the fashion department for 2026, plonking them in order of our preference, and have even had this powered by Artificial Intelligence and Grek Norman, with the AI Grek Norman Fashion Bot harnessing all the AI power available to offer up an opinion on every team.
2026 F1 Liveries Ratings with AI Grek Norman Fashion Bot
We asked AI Grek Norman to run his eyes over all the new looks for F1 in 2026 and here is how he rated the 2026 F1 Liveries. He even put them in order of his favourites to least.
MERCEDES
AI Grek Fashion Bot says: Looks a winner in all ways possible. The Adidas stripe looking section looks excellent.
HAAS
AI Grek Fashion Bot says: Hard to imagine adding any more Toyota into anything makes it exciting but there you go. Now it appears that Haas has something looking good for the first time ever.
CADILLAC
AI Grek Fashion Bot says: Offering up a car with a different livery on both sides of the car is a winner straight up, and good that F1 allowed to. Coincidentally the last time to offer up a dual livery was British American Racing, so a US theme is happening. Both sides look good on their own too, even if one looks like the 1998 McLaren and the other looks like all the F1 cars did a few years ago when they were saving weight by forgetting to paint their car.
RED BULL
AI Grek Fashion Bot says: A Red Bull usually looks good, even if in some previous seasons most of the grid only see it from behind. The tweak for 2026 is a winner, much like their lead driver Max Verstappen.
McLAREN
AI Grek Fashion Bot says: A winner always looks good. But with all the tweaks and changing in sponsors in 2025, it’s hard to catch up this season whether the 2026 McLaren livery is different or not.
RACING BULLS
AI Grek Fashion Bot says: It’s better than most RB cars of the past, but not as good as last year’s.
ASTON MARTIN
AI Grek Fashion Bot says: Looks similar to most recent Aston Martins, which isn’t a bad thing, but it also isn’t that exciting. Unlike the whole car itself which is an Adrian Newey special in time they hope.
AUDI
AI Grek Fashion Bot says: Audi appear to be ironically trying to look like the late 90’s 2000’s McLarens. About one third of the car looks cool, but it’s easy does it for the new re-birthed team.
ALPINE
AI Grek Fashion Bot says: The Alpine F1 car launched will probably be one of about five liveries used by Alpine over the year, and mostly none of them are good. Much like the team’s prospective chances in 2026.
WILLIAMS
AI Grek Fashion Bot says: An F1 livery that doesn’t know what it wants to be. Like one of those back marker teams from the late 80’s and early 90’s that squeezes bit and pieces everywhere, which is apt, given that’s the last time Williams were world beaters. Looks like a 1995 Pacific GP car. Which isn’t great.
FERRARI
AI Grek Fashion Bot says: There should never be that much white on a Ferrari, let alone there to accommodate a big blue HP logo that doesn’t suit. Lord knows with F1 as popular as ever, and Ferrari the most prestigious name in F1, and a popular driving duo who would be on the cooler side of the grid of drivers, that they couldn’t get a better sponsor whose presence doesn’t ruin an entire legacy of F1 colouring. Hope it’s fast.
