F1 2026 mid season review: what do fans think of the new rules?
Eleven rounds into the 2026 season the audience rates the racing 3.21 out of five and the new regulations 3.8 out of ten.
The sport goes into the break with a mid season review saying two thirds of fans rated the first half good or excellent. The same audience has been grading the season round by round all year, 22 889 ratings across eleven weekends. The headline survives the check. Very little underneath it does.
What the mid season review published and what the ratings say
The review names four rounds. Canada reads 84% good or excellent, Barcelona 76, the Red Bull Ring 72 and Miami 70. Measured the same way on our panel, the same four rounds read 58.4, 68.7, 61 and 66.6% from 4 411 ratings.
The order changes with the level. Canada is the best weekend of the half season in the published table and the fifth in ours.
On the season as a whole the two readings agree. The share of our audience calling a round good or excellent came out at 55.5% for 2026 against 50.5% for the same rounds last year, so a verdict that goes up is defensible. What one share cannot carry is everything below.
Eleven rounds, rated by the people who watched them
Every round is rated out of five by the audience that logged it. Barcelona leads the half season at 3.63 from 1 179 ratings, ahead of the Red Bull Ring at 3.4 and Shanghai at 3.34. Suzuka and Miami both read 3.33. At the other end Spa reads 2.85, Budapest 2.76 and Monaco closes the table at 2.68, almost a full point below the best weekend of the year.
Weighted by ratings the eleven rounds average 3.21. On the ten rounds run in both seasons the same measure was 3.36 last year, so the aggregate mood is down while the round by round picture is split.
The rules did not make the racing better or worse across the board, they made it uneven. The venue now decides more of the verdict than the rulebook.
Which rounds improved on last season and which fell
Ten rounds have now run in both seasons, so ten weekends can be compared with themselves. Suzuka gained the most, 29.6 more people in every hundred calling it good or excellent than in 2025. Miami gained 21.2, Shanghai 17.9 and the Red Bull Ring 17.2. Monaco gained 4.7 and Budapest 0.4. At the other end Silverstone lost 18.8, Melbourne 12.2, Spa 10.1 and Montreal 2.5.
The two heaviest rounds of the season by volume are Melbourne with 5 421 ratings and Shanghai with 4 336, one at each end of that table. Any single season number therefore depends on whether it counts rounds or ratings.
Counting ratings, the same ten weekends fall from 3.36 to 3.21 out of five and the happiness index falls from 61.1 to 54.5 out of 100. Counting rounds, the season reads five points up. Both come from the same ratings, so the honest summary is that the audience did not travel as a block, it spread out.
Where the season made people happiest
Beside the rating there is a second reading, a happiness index scored out of 100 on the weekend itself.
Barcelona takes the season at 70. The Red Bull Ring reads 62, Suzuka 61 and Miami 59. Monaco closes the table at 39, thirty one points below the best weekend of the year and the lowest of any round measured in two seasons of collection.
A thirty one point spread inside one rule set is the number a promoter should read first. The regulations were the same in Barcelona and in Monaco. The weekend was not. The audience scored the difference the same week it watched it.
The same season reads differently in every garage
Everyone declares a team when they join, so every rating carries an allegiance. Cut that way, the season is not one season. Mercedes supporters rate the 2026 rounds 3.48 out of five, the happiest audience on the grid.
Ferrari reads 3.26 from 4 922 ratings and Red Bull Racing closes the list at 2.88, the only audience of any size below three.
The movement is sharper than the level. On the ten rounds run in both seasons, McLaren supporters fall from 3.75 to 3.08, a drop of 0.66 and the largest of any audience. They were the happiest crowd in the sport last year and they are now among the least happy.
Ferrari went the other way, from 3.07 to 3.26. A season that reads flat in aggregate carried fifteen points of good or excellent one way inside one fan base and twelve the other way inside another.
Mercedes
Ferrari
Williams
VCARB
Audi
Aston Martin
Haas
McLaren
Red Bull Racing
What the audience wants changed at the break
The season the review calls good is the one this audience speaks up about the most. Everything it asks for is a change.
Asked to rate the 2026 regulations out of ten, the audience gives a mean of 3.8 and 82.8% put the rules at five or less. The largest blocks are at three and four out of ten. Under 1% go above eight.
The rest of the list points at the weekend rather than the car. Four in five prefer the classic format over any alternative, 56.4% would remove the sprint and 58.7% name the old engines first among the things the sport should bring back.
Asked the biggest issue with the regulations, 43.3% name qualifying, ahead of artificial overtaking at 34.9%. Engine sound and the cost cap together take under 3%, which is the reverse of the order the paddock argues in.
What the second half can change
A rulebook cannot be reopened weekend by weekend. Formats, sessions and venues can. Those are the three things the audience keeps naming.
Qualifying leads the complaint list, the sprint loses a straight vote and the classic weekend wins one by four to one. None of that needs a new engine regulation to act on.
The value of a mid season review is not the share it prints on the cover. It is the map underneath: which weekends delivered under the new formula, which fan bases changed and which parts of the show the people watching would drop tomorrow.
That map exists now, one round at a time. The second half of the season is where it can still be used.
Frequently asked questions
What do fans think of the 2026 F1 season at the mid season break?
The audience rates the eleven rounds 3.21 out of five on average, from 22 889 ratings. Barcelona leads at 3.63 and Monaco closes the table at 2.68. On the ten rounds run in both seasons the same measure read 3.36 last year.
Which 2026 F1 race did fans rate highest?
Barcelona, at 3.63 out of five with a happiness index of 70 out of 100, the best weekend of the half season. Monaco reads lowest on both, 2.68 and 39 out of 100.
What is the biggest problem with the 2026 F1 rules?
Qualifying, named by 43.3% of the audience, ahead of artificial overtaking at 34.9%. Engine sound and the cost cap together take under 3%.
Do F1 fans want the sprint removed?
A majority does. Asked to keep or remove the sprint, 56.4% say remove. Asked separately which weekend format they prefer, 79.8% pick the classic weekend and 11.9% pick the sprint weekend.
Do F1 fans want V10 engines back?
Asked what the sport should bring back, 58.7% name the old V10 engines, ahead of custom helmets every race at 17.6% and tobacco liveries at 10%.
Did the 2026 regulations make the racing better?
They made it uneven. Four rounds gained more than seventeen points of good or excellent on last season, led by Suzuka at 29.6, while Silverstone lost 18.8 and Melbourne 12.2. Weighted by ratings the ten comparable rounds fall from 3.36 to 3.21 out of five.
How many fans rate F1 races on BoxBoxd?
The 2026 half season carries 22 889 race ratings across eleven rounds, from Melbourne at 5 421 down to Belgium at 793.
Want this reading on your own brand?
The full report behind this article, with the split by team audience, market composition and the change across the season, is available to teams, brands and agencies.
Source: BoxBoxd, the motorsport social network. Race ratings are collected on BoxBoxd on the weekend of each round, scored out of five alongside a happiness index out of 100. The regulation questions run in a separate survey of the same audience.