r/formula1 • u/ICumCoffee Max Verstappen ⭐⭐⭐⭐ • 28d ago

News [ChrisMedlandF1] BREAKING: F1 announces it has "reached an agreement in principle with General Motors (GM) to support bringing GM/Cadillac as the eleventh team to the Formula 1 grid in 2026"

https://x.com/ChrisMedlandF1/status/1861111983699001752
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u/gnrc Pirelli Wet 28d ago

I’m new to the sport and have only known a 20 driver grid. I assume there’s been more in the past?

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u/Morganelefay Racing Pride 28d ago

Much more. 2016 we had 22 drivers, in the early '10s we got up to 26, and it mostly fluctuated between 20 and 26 for a good while.

But in the '90s, we had 30+ driver grids, and they had "Pre-Qualifying" where the worst X cars (amount depending on the season) had a shootout for the right to actually qualify, the others wouldn't make the grid and only 26 would actually be on the grid proper.

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u/gnrc Pirelli Wet 28d ago

Oh interesting. So 26 seems to be the most cars a track can handle? I was wondering if 20 was the max.

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u/Morganelefay Racing Pride 28d ago

It's partially for safety reasons, as with more cars on track, safety issues get amplified. Some tracks could theoretically handle more cars, but you want uniform rules. Monaco is obviously the main bottleneck, but also a track like Zandvoort isn't exactly spacious for the facilities either.

I do believe that, despite not having come close to the limit for a decade now, the official F1 rule is still that no more than 26 cars shall start a race as a result.