F1 2026 thread

You can put me in the stupid camp then!

The “progress” argument is always made but IMO emotion is what racing is all about. Looking back almost everything F1 has done to “evolve” the sport has made it more boring.

At Finali Mondiali in Daytona I had the joy of watching many years of F1 cars blast around the speedway. Without question the crowd favorite and most applauded were the v10’s and v12’s. Next best was the 333sp’s.

IMO the current F1 cars are like decent looking women with a high IQ and a healthy 401k. The v12’s are the smoking hot dancers you gladly empty your bank account for

 

Ferrari gears up for first EV with opening of new E-building
New facility at Maranello will house production of ICE and hybrid cars, as well as firm's first full EV

Ferrari gears up for first EV with opening of new E-building | Autocar

 

Saw that on YouTube. There's several videos with one of them with Vigna in it.

 

It's going to be hearbreaking for some ...

 

It's like Louis Vuitton going faux leather.

It's like going to a 5 star upscale restaurant and ordering grass fed meat only to get vegan induced meat.

To me, it's a waste of money given Ferrari's image. Vigna even said that they will stick with F1, WEC and Sailboating......Ferrari won't go into Formula E.

 

I have news for you: Vuitton already uses faux leather and manufactures in China too !!!

 

Well, I just can't see a fully EV Ferrari selling for $500k USD. It uses the same technology as a Tesla for way way less money.

Everyone in the EV market uses lithium ion batteries and gets those batteries from China.

Ferrari is about speed, exclusivity, history and craftsmanship. Ferrari's first SUV stands for "Pure Blood" and why not? It's a 6.5ltr NA V-12 with ALOT of horsepower and it's "mid-engine" from the front.

 

Ferrari's R&D department may start designing their own electric motors, in titaniun casing, lighter, more powerful and efficient than the others, and built their own batteries to obtain higher range.
The rest of the cars would be like now highly luxurious, with bespoke interiors, and dashboards like jewelry shops, which added to the exclusivity, will still justify the high prices.
Electric motors can deliver A LOT MORE power than ICE, and with their ENORMOUS instant torque give acceleration so fierce as to send the drivers all giddy !! Just read some EV test reports !!
It's a mistake to think future EVs will be like washing machines!

 

The law of diminishing returns applies to everything, including cars. Chasing more performance with the expectation of correlating levels of enjoyment is a fool's errand. With all of that comes more weight and insulation from the road. None of that is more enjoyable than my 181 hp MX-5 or my 100 hp TR3, which are more fun to drive than my 550 (sacrilege in these parts, perhaps) and the 435 hp '17 Mustang GT/CS that was replaced by the both of them.

All of the talk about EV performance is simply more of the same numbers **** swinging contest, only this time, the cars are silent and far less visceral.

 

News flash! Electric cars are blindingly quick, and that’s it. To me they are like a novelty act, or carnival ride. It’s fun for a few times, but then you look around and say, what a sh*t box. Go for a ride in a Tesla plaid. It’s fun for the first few times and then you realize you’re in a piece of crap, with no soul, or design, or build quality. Likely the most fun I’ve ever had was in 1973 Porsche 914 with a 1.7 liter 4 cylinder. It was light, clever, and perfectly balanced. There’s nothing like a 4 wheel drift on a set of 165/15’s with 80hp!!

 

This guy gets it.

 

Well, there's nothing like the sound and visceral experience of a V10, V12 or V16. Cosworth is in high demand for these engines like the Valkyrie, Mclaren T50, and Bugatti Tourbillon(tour-bee-yawn). Yes this new Bugatti now incorporates 3 electric motors-->2 in the front to drive the front wheels and one in the back....kinda like an Audi R18 from WEC. The motor itself in this new Bugatti produces 1000hp and revs to 9000rpm. The remaining 800hp is from the electrical motors. But the foundation is the high revving high output V10's thru V16's engines and people with money buy them and sell them out.

Btw, here in the states, there's a recent survey that 46% of previously bought EV's would go back to ICE vehicles.

Did you know our government got billions(really the taxpayers) in producing electrical charging stations in 2021 and guess how many they have built to this day on 2024?........only 7 of them!!!!!

 

The way one makes forward progress on the "Formula" is to begin the the maximum sizes for the car,
AND THEN discard stuff that cannot be fit inside the typical aerodynamic envelopes of cars fitting those sizes.
if those be the batteries--then sobeit !
And when the batteries are gone, so are the MGUs !
Now that you got rid of "that much weight" you scale the rest of the car accordingly.

 

Sounds like a good starting point.

 

Maybe Stella isn't used to see cars slowing down for corners ?

 

There is an interesting proof in Race Car Aerodynamics (Katz) that air flowing around and through a vehicle cannot generate downforce as fast as cornering speed increases, thus there is a limit to cornering speed. Both DF and cornering force increase quadratically.

 

https://f1i.com/news/514078-wolff-f1-engineers-will-tame-2026-slow-car-fears.html

From a lack of downforce produced by the cars’ innovative active aerodynamics to the 50/50 power divide between the internal combustion engine and the electric output, concerns were widespread that F1 might struggle to remain motorsport’s fastest and leading series.

Simulations conducted by Williams suggest the proposed 2026 cars might be only "a few seconds" faster than current Formula 2 machinery, a sentiment echoed by Wolff.

“What we have at the moment is simply far too slow,” he told Austrian broadcaster ORF, referring to Mercedes’ own projections. “We sometimes have lap times that are up to 10 seconds slower.”

Despite these initial worries, Wolff is confident that the ingenuity of Formula 1’s engineers and their quest for innovation will prevail.

“Formula 1 has always been an innovation incubator, and I am convinced that with what the engineers will come up with and, with the [chassis] regulations, which we still have to change, the cars will definitely become fast again,” he said.

 

F1 Commission in London on Tuesday-
confirmed there will be nine days of preseason testing in 2026 to kick off the sport's new engine regulations -- the schedule will be split across three events. In recent years, F1's preseason testing schedule has been a single event of three days.

 

Formula 1 hints at longer regulation cycles to sustain close racing

With the budget cap and limitations on aerodynamics seemingly achieving the goal of a more balanced grid, the focus has shifted.

Technological advancement remains a priority, but Domenicali questions the necessity of a major shakeup every five years.

“So the real thing is technological challenge in the future,” he said. “Is it relevant that the change will be in such a short time cycle of five years?

“That will be the point of discussion for the future.”

https://f1i.com/news/516074-formula-1-hints-at-longer-regulation-cycles-to-sustain-close-racing.html

 

Via Autosport F1:
F1’s new 2026 smaller tyres get first run on Aston Martin mule car
F1 will have narrower tyres in 2026, and which have just made their on-track debut
Jonathan NobleSep 18, 2024, 10:10 AM


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Formula 1’s new narrower 2026 tyre specifications have run for the first time on an Aston Martin mule car.

Ahead of the major rules revamp that is coming in two years' time, Pirelli is introducing slightly smaller tyres as part of an effort to reduce overall car weight.

While the tyres remain with the current 18-inch rim size that has been used for the latest ground-effect era, the size of both the front and rear tyres will be reduced.

Pirelli has agreed to reduce the front tyre width by 25mm and the rear tyre width by 30mm.

The tyres themselves will also become smaller in diameter, going from the current 720mm diameter to 705-710mm.

While F1’s final technical regulations for 2026 are yet to be finalised, which means that the definitive aero load has not been set just yet, Pirelli did not want to wait too long before running the tyres on track.

That is why it has agreed with the FIA for a mule car test programme to be run with modified 2023 cars.


With all teams obviously eager to get any early knowledge of the 2026 tyre designs, there was a great deal of interest in squads committing to running a mule car for these early runs.

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However, Aston Martin came out of top, with team principal Mike Krack revealing that the decision for the team to be part of the first test had been decided in a lottery.

 

2026 Pirelli F1 tyres will be compared to what F1 cars run on now.

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2026 cars get extra two-seconds boost after rules improvements
https://cdn.motorsport.com/images/mgl/YpNMjxZ0/s1000/f1-2026-fia-car-renders.jpg
More boost? Refinements have been made to the 2026 regulations

Photo by: FIA

When the 2026 regulations were unveiled at this year’s Canadian Grand Prix, many of the team principals were not only irked at the way the FIA had perhaps attempted to strongarm them into accepting the new rules, but also at the comparative lack of performance. A 40% reduction in downforce, thanks to the reduction in Venturi tunnel size and revised aerodynamics, has now been reduced to just a 15% deficit versus the current cars.

FIA head of single-seaters Nikolas Tombazis says that the 2026 rules have been changed to enlarge the diffuser, the bounding box for the front wing, and allow for leading edge devices for the floor. The earlier performance points with adjustable aerodynamics and smaller size remain in place.

The 2026 cars in their current form will now be, per Tombazis, around a second a lap slower than the current machinery. Whether the additional aerodynamic allowances dilute the effect of the desired on-track product remains to be seen, although the performance effect of narrower tyres should not be underestimated. Teams cannot work on the aerodynamics of their 2026 cars until the 1 January next year.

 

Indeed, there is nothing like a 4-wheel drift in a 1700 pound car with 1.3 liter mid-mounted motor and 72HP on 145-45/15s.

 

Mitch you know your cars!!

 

https://scuderiafans.com/2026-f1-rules-how-balance-of-performance-will-be-introduced-disguised-as-override-mode/

2025 will be my last year as an F1 fan if this farce is introduced as noted in the article. Clearly the end of one of the the world's greatest racing series. Thanks for the memories.