If there’s one underrated part of these new regulations, it’s this returning element of unpredictability. This is perhaps surprising to read given that we’ve just come off a five-race winning streak for one driver, but I’m talking about the dreaded initials - DNF or DNS.

In this latest 22-car era, we’ve only had the full complement of machinery on the grid once. Other than Suzuka, at least one car has either not started the race, or has been forced to start from the pits. A DNS was a relatively rare thing in the Ground Effect era from 2022 onwards, with 12 in four years. Some of these were withdrawals without replacement, but the vast majority were either crashes on recon laps or some sort of mechanical issue. 

In 2026, we’ve already had seven. That is a cruel way for a driver to spend their weekend, in case you wanted to feel sorry for a likely millionaire, but doing everything except the thing that gets their employer paid on a Sunday cannot be fun.

That then extends into the Grand Prix itself, with more creative reasons for drivers not to finish a race. We’ve had the classic misjudgement into a wall, or being put on your side, to the disaster of no power at the start or towards the end of a race. Formula 1 is never boring, but the added unpredictability, while a headache for the teams, makes it a more interesting spectacle for the fans.

In the last era, we had a season opener with no retirements as Bahrain 2024 saw Max Verstappen and Checo Perez take a 1-2 for Red Bull. Everyone finishing should be an anomaly, as it has happened fewer than 20 times. Everyone finishing in a season opener should be illegal. In that same 2022-2025 era, it happened eight times! Two of those were in Barcelona, as the race moved away from the classic medium to hard one stopper and towards a more cerebral race that required some special respect to be paid to the front left, throwing on two or three sets of tyres to get to the end. 

Track temperatures of around 50c were also going to be a test for these cars, and we had a few “box to retire the car” messages. We also had the sight of seeing the Championship leader have his lead cut into as his Mercedes failed late on, almost at the same time, Charles Leclerc lost the power steering in his Ferrari and limped the car home. It marks the first time in his Ferrari career that Leclerc has failed to finish consecutive races, and will sting further after running in sixth and seeing his teammate win for Ferrari.

After the first seven races in 2025, we had 16/132 non-starts or finishes (excluding DSQs). After the first seven races this time around, my rudimentary counting on Wikipedia says we’ve had 40/154. 

We also had the downright bizarre when it comes to retirements and non-classifications in Barcelona. Alex Albon had to pit when his camera came loose and he came back out to learn more about the car, eight or so laps behind. He did not complete 90% of the race distance, so he doesn’t get credited with a finish.

If you think that’s weird, you should see what happened to Nico Hulkenberg, who remains on zero points. He had to retire after a Liam Lawson gravel dip kicked up some stones and triggered the Audi’s emergency shutdown override, meaning that’s the end of the day for the German. Your luck simply can’t get worse than that.

Reliability is going to play a huge part in the title. In some ways, it already has. One fun stat is that only one driver has been classified in 20th so far this season (Alex Albon in Suzuka). Perhaps its shadow will fade as teams and drivers properly get to grips with their machinery, but we’re already seeing teams - albeit Aston Martin continuing their disastrous 2026 - having to dip into their store of forbidden race components and take penalties because of it. 

And the teams are well aware of it. Toto Wolff, after seeing Antonelli’s second place go up in smoke, said: "We just can't compete for a championship if every second race a car is losing fat points.” With a 72-point lead in the standings, they might be ok for another couple of races, but the basic point is there. I wrote about it in 2021, somehow, when this blog was elsewhere (and why the embeds look weird). The three deadly initials are back, and it’s yet another obstacle F1 teams and drivers must contend with in this new era.

Austria is next up in a home race for Red Bull. One driver who has had cursed luck in the Styrian hills is Carlos Sainz, who has suffered two car fires in recent years. Ferrari brought with them a whole host of upgrades and changes in Barcelona, and looked like they had the pace, regardless of the VSC. Despite Antonelli’s retirement and Hamilton’s win, I’m not sure there is a title fight that involves two teams yet. As F1’s Euro Summer continues, as the old saying goes, finishing first means first you have to finish.

All the headlines in 2026 are video game references.

I think Crash Bandicoot was created as a way to give Sony a mascot of its own, competing with an Italian-American plumber and a fast-running blue hedgehog. The 80s and 90s were weird.

Crash had something of a cult following, but was ultimately not as deep or as showbizzy as his peers, but he did have a memorable theme. I used to use this as a bed back in a different world when I worked on radio.

Uploaded 18 years ago? I don’t believe you.