05 - 2026 Season Update: Rounds 7-16
- guffaluff
- Feb 24, 2025
- 4 min read
Hello, and welcome to my saga of Atlantic Racing, a small fish in a big pond, trying to make an impact in Formula 1! If you're new to the series, I urge you to take a look at the previous posts to be up to date on our story! :)
In this post, we're covering rounds 7-16 of the 2026 season, and taking a look at the standings before the final stretch!
----
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Season Update - Rounds 7-16 - Standings/Overview
Atlantic Racing - Running out of Steam? + Bearman / Iwasa: Head to head
Notable things from rounds 7-16
Current F2/F3 standings
Audi confirmed for 2027
----
SEASON UPDATE - ROUNDS 7-16
I was obviously too quick to deem this season a Red Bull dominance season! Since we last checked in, the season haas quickly turned into a McLaren/Piastri dominance!
As you can see above, between our last post and now, Piastri has won every single race, 9 in a row! Not only has he taken a commanding lead in the championship battle, but McLaren is now also leading the constructors standings! Piastri is really establishing his position as the lead driver for McLaren, putting Norris in the shadow. Both drivers are in their final year of their contract, so it'll be really interesting to see if Norris might opt to look for opportunities elsewhere for 2027. It is rumored around the paddock that McLaren primary focus is to try to secure Piastri on a long term contract.
The battle for 2nd place is much more exciting, as the two Red Bull drivers, reigning champion Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz, are separated by only 5 points. Sainz has been having a stellar season, keeping Max honest, and then some.
Aston Martin has been on a big upwards trajectory over the last few races and even scored a couple of podiums. They are now in real contention with us in Atlantic Racing for P4, while Ferrari has left us behind and is in a bit of a no man's land in P3.
ATLANTIC RACING - RUNNING OUT OF STEAM?
As you can see, our momentum has slowed down considerably, fighting now in the midfield instead of consistantly fighting for podiums. Our development has slowed down, but with more focus on R&D for 2027, we're confident that it'll all be worth it for the new season. Our aim is now to hold on to P4 in the constructors, keeping Aston at bay, but with their current resurgence, it might be tricky! We have, however, been making some upgrades to the 2026 car on the side, which will hopefully aid us towards our goal.
The key to making P4 happen is for Bearman to get back in his groove. He has been severely underperforming this season, failing to score a single point in the last 5 races, and with only one point finish (P8) in the last 9 races. Meanwhile, Iwasa has been doing great. We'll see what we can do to try and get Bearman back in his mojo and hopefully save P4, but it's certain that Iwasa can't do it all on his own.
Above is the head to head comparison between Iwasa and Bearman. Iwasa is the clear lead driver so far, which has caught many by surprise. Bearman was touted to be the future star of the team, but his progress has been below expectations, while Iwasa has shined after making his F1 debut last season following Mick Schumacher's early departure from the team.
Hopefully Bearman can live up to his potential in the coming races!
NOTEABLE THINGS FROM ROUNDS 7-16
Not so much to report that hasn´t been mentioned already, but a couple of things:
Sauber, Alpine and Haas continue to struggle, remaining scoreless
Carlos Sainz DNF'ed in Imola, which marks Red Bull's first DNF of this whole playthrough! Insane reliability.
Fittipaldi continues to struggle in his rookie season, consistently finishing last or DNF. Absolutely horrible season for Haas, with a historically weak lineup in Fittipaldi and Sargeant.
F2 / F3 STANDINGS (TOP 10)
After a strong start, Antonelli has not managed to maintain the lead in F2. Maloney is now in the lead with a solid margin. Our ex-affiliate Ti Seok is still doing well in P4 at the moment, but we're keeping a close eye on his development, even since he was poached from us by Ferrari.
In F3, Doris Meier still leads, and now by a very handsome margin! It looks like history is in the making, with the first female driver to win Formula 3!
AUDI CONFIRMED FOR 2027
Audi, previously planning their F1 entry in 2026 following their plans of full ownership of Kick Sauber, have now been officially confirmed to become a works team in 2027! Both drivers, Magnussen and Pourchaire, are contracted through 2028, so it seems like Audi wants to keep the status quo, but with Audi's budget, who knows what they'll do!
This will be it for now, my next post will be by season end!
Thanks for sticking around, hope you are enjoying the series! :)
Comments