Formula Fools

Next in our 2026 pre-season deep dive series, Formula Fools tackles the team that is Formula 1: Scuderia Ferrari.

This is not just a race team — it’s a national symbol, a religion, and a pressure cooker unlike anything else in motorsport.

David and Skin rewind all the way back to 1929, when Enzo Ferrari founded Scuderia Ferrari as a racing operation long before it became a car manufacturer. From Ferrari’s very first F1 win in 1951, to Alberto Ascari’s early dominance, the team quickly established itself as the emotional heart of the sport.

We chart Ferrari’s defining eras: the Lauda-led resurgence of the 1970s, the crushing 21-year Drivers’ Championship drought that followed 1979, and the arrival of Michael Schumacher, Jean Todt, and Ross Brawn — a trio that delivered Ferrari’s modern golden age and rewrote the record books in the early 2000s.

Then comes the pain. 2008 marks Ferrari’s last Constructors’ Championship. Since then? Near misses, chaos, heartbreak, and the unique pressure that only Ferrari can generate — from the media, the tifosi, and the weight of their own history.

Now, in 2026, Ferrari stand at another crossroads. Charles Leclerc remains the soul of the team, while Lewis Hamilton arrives in Maranello in one of the biggest signings the sport has ever seen. Under Fred Vasseur, Ferrari aren’t defending a dynasty — they’re trying to wake a sleeping giant.

This episode breaks down Ferrari’s greatest moments, their most painful losses, and the brutal truth at the core of the team:

At Ferrari, potential is never enough.
Only championships matter.
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Next in our 2026 pre-season series, Formula Fools dives into the most disruptive force in modern Formula 1: Oracle Red Bull Racing.

This is the story of a team that didn’t belong in F1 — until it decided to dominate it.

David and Skin rewind to 2005, when Red Bull arrived by buying Jaguar Racing and were widely dismissed as a flashy marketing experiment. But behind the energy drinks and attitude was a ruthless plan: hire the best people, back young talent aggressively, and build the fastest aero cars on the grid.

That plan exploded into reality with the arrival of Adrian Newey and the rise of Sebastian Vettel, launching Red Bull’s first dynasty — four straight Constructors’ and Drivers’ titles from 2010 to 2013. A benchmark era built on innovation, confidence, and a car both drivers could actually drive.

Then came the hybrid dip. Red Bull fell away from the top… until one driver changed everything. The Verstappen–Hamilton title war of 2021 dragged Red Bull back into the fight, before a second dynasty arrived in 2022–23 — this time built unapologetically around Max Verstappen and an all-or-nothing philosophy.

But dominance comes at a cost.

With the exits of Christian Horner, Adrian Newey, and Helmut Marko across 2025, Red Bull now enters its most uncertain chapter yet. A new leadership era begins under Laurent Mekies, while the team tries to stay elite on track and rebuild its management spine at the same time.

We break down Red Bull’s defining moments, their brutal “sink or swim” driver culture, the evolution from Vettel to Verstappen, and why this reset feels fundamentally different to anything they’ve faced before.

This episode isn’t about whether Red Bull know how to win — they’ve proven that twice over.
It’s about whether a modern dynasty can survive losing the people who built it.
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Next in our 2026 pre-season series, Formula Fools turns to the team that defined modern Formula 1: Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team.

This is the story of a dynasty — not born from romance or rebellion, but from precision, planning, and ruthless execution.

David and Skin rewind to Mercedes’ original F1 chapter in the 1950s, their sudden exit from motorsport, and the high-expectation return more than 50 years later via the purchase of Brawn GP. Unlike most teams, Mercedes didn’t come back to try Formula 1 — they came back to own it.

We break down the foundations years with Michael Schumacher’s comeback, before diving headfirst into the hybrid era that changed the sport forever. Eight Constructors’ Championships. Seven Drivers’ titles. A generation defined by silver cars, relentless process, and one of the greatest driver-team partnerships of all time in Lewis Hamilton.

But dominance comes with pressure — and nowhere was that clearer than the internal war between Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, culminating in Abu Dhabi 2016. And then… the fall. New regulations, a wrong technical path, and a brutal reminder that even perfect systems can fail — capped off by the unforgettable 2021 title showdown that marked the end of Mercedes’ reign.

Now, in 2026, Mercedes finds itself in unfamiliar territory. George Russell leads the charge, Kimi Antonelli represents the future, and Toto Wolff oversees a rebuild rooted in patience, data, and long-term belief rather than panic.

This episode isn’t about whether Mercedes were great — that’s settled.
It’s about whether a former dynasty can learn how to become one again.
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Formula Fools is back for 2026 — and we’re starting where racing heritage hits hardest: McLaren Formula 1 Team.

In the first episode of our pre-season deep dive series, David and Skin unpack the full McLaren story — not just the wins, but the expectation of winning that defines the team more than trophies ever could.

We rewind to Bruce McLaren’s racing-first vision, the tragedy that could’ve ended it all, and the moment McLaren proved they weren’t just a passion project but a championship force. From there, we relive the gold standard era — Honda power, white and red cars, and the rivalry that shaped Formula 1 forever between Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost.

Then comes the fall: Lewis leaving, the disastrous Honda reunion, years lost in the midfield — before a full cultural reset under Zak Brown and Andrea Stella sparked one of the most impressive rebuilds in modern F1. Back-to-back Constructors’ titles in 2024 and 2025 didn’t just signal a comeback — they re-established the standard.

We finish by asking the hardest question of all:
With Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, the fastest development curve on the grid, and the weight of history behind them… is winning still enough for McLaren?

This is the story of a team where success isn’t celebrated — it’s required.
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After a decade of memes, heartbreak, podium teases, and papaya dreams… Lando Norris is officially a World Champion. And the season finale delivered everything: emotion, strategy madness, Max going full Terminator, and enough Abu Dhabi-specific chaos to fill an entire off-season.

David breaks down Lando’s title-clinching drive — the nerves, the two-stop strategy masterclass, the tears on the podium, and what becoming McLaren’s third British World Champion actually means. But while Lando was writing history, Max Verstappen was back to doing Max Verstappen things: utterly dominant, absurdly fast, and somehow ending the year just two points shy of a miracle comeback from over 100 points behind.

We look at Oscar’s brutal run of bad luck to close out the season, how his one-stop played into McLaren’s wider strategy, and the wholesome moment with his family after the race. Then Skin jumps in with the big questions:
– Why were track limits nuking everyone?
– Was Yuki actually overdoing it defending Lando?
– Why weren’t McLaren more worried about Oscar overtaking Lando early?
– Should they have pitted Oscar sooner before Max breezed by?
– And what happens if Lando and Max tie for the championship??

Plus: Ferrari’s “accidental genius” by finishing P4, Lewis’s final grind of the year, and a full send-off to everything we’re losing: ground-effect aero, Sauber, DRS, and (maybe) Lewis’s dream of title number eight.

It’s the perfect finale — emotional, hilarious, nerdy, and chaotic. A new World Champion, the end of an era, and the start of a very spicy 2026.
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