Reduce the talking lol! FIA has now sent round a draft update to the relevant technical directive TD018 that will further clamp down on the phenomenon. Its main motivation behind the late change of stance is to stop aero elasticity from being such a big talking point among teams over the new season. Autosport understands delaying the front wing clampdown, which reduces the flexing allowance from 15mm to 10mm among other measures, to June is a move to help the teams adjust to the stricter tests without having to discard their front wing for the start of the 2025 season, with some teams intending to stick to their 2024 wings.
I don't see many reasons to force the teams to design new wings just for the last months of the current regulations. And then they talk about cost reductions...
Given the regulatory change its a bit useless at this point lol. MBS failure again! Let them race right???
Regs are forcing a spec series slowly and pay is better in other series - Pinnacle!! https://www.motorsportweek.com/2025/02/01/adrian-newey-reveals-hidden-penalty-f1s-cost-cap-has-imposed/ Adrian Newey has revealed that Formula 1 is no longer the “best-paid industry” in motorsport because of the hidden penalties within its cost cap regulations. The technical guru, who is one month away from officially joining Aston Martin from Red Bull, has made the sensational claim that, due to teams being penalised, the knock-on effect has been that key personnel are able to find other work within other realms of motorsport, as well as deterring youngsters from working in F1 after their graduation. The F1 financial limits, introduced in 2021, restrict teams’ spending in a bid to reduce the on-track gap between sides at the front and back of the grid. Newey has stated that, whilst the cost cap has obvious benefits which are positive for F1, the punishments involved for breaching the limits have wider drawbacks. “The cost cap, there needs to be a way of controlling the cost for teams, or certainly the benefit from spending more in Formula 1 to make it simply an arms race where the team with the biggest budget wins – that I fully agree with,” Newey told Auto Motor und Sport. “The cost cap, though, does come with a lot of hidden penalties, one of which is it actually means Formula 1 is no longer the best-paid industry. “So for instance, at Red Bull, at the start if we lost people, it would almost invariably be to another F1 team. “Now we’re losing people to tech companies because they pay better. We’re losing people to WEC teams because they pay better. “We’re struggling to get graduates because Formula 1 can’t afford to be the best-paying industry anymore, so it has a lot of, let’s say, unexpected penalties to it. “But what it does mean is that you’ve effectively now got an engineering budget, and therefore the fear that spending more will mean you’ll disappear is theoretically disappeared, at which point, surely you free up the regulations rather than make them ever more restrictive. “But unfortunately, it’s not what’s happening.” One of the first tasks for Newey at Aston Martin will be tackling the 2026 regulations, through which the team will hope that he can help steer the team towards the front of the grid. Newey also commented on the vast changes in Formula 1’s technical regulations from when he made his nascent steps into the sport back in the 1980s. Asked what period of the sport in which Newey has most enjoyed, he replied: “The ones with the most freedom, that’s easy!” “When I first got into Formula 1, I had on my desk at work a copy of the 1973 Technical Regulations, and it’s about three or four pages… now we have this bible and that’s before you put all the technical directives in! “It’s so prescribed now, and I think it’s a shame.”
More low pay news about F1. I posted Haas team leader opinion as well. Sounds like an issue across teams. Former Red Bull engineer gives up on F1 due to low pay: 'Ship has sailed' Former Red Bull engineer Blake Hinsley has spoken out against the low salaries in Formula 1, particularly when compared to other racing series like the World Endurance Championship (WEC). He claims that some F1 engineers earn less than what a part-time role in WEC offers, highlighting a major disparity despite the immense financial resources within Formula 1. Hinsley’s comments raise concerns about how technical experts are compensated in the sport, given their crucial role in shaping race-winning cars. https://www.gpblog.com/en/news/325547/former-red-bull-engineer-gives-up-on-f1-due-to-low-pay-ship-has-sailed.html
Interesting look at this new, very late in development, change for this season on wing design/test just announced last week. The change to the Formula 1 front wing load tests and the reduction in the allowable deflection by the FIA is too little, too late. https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/gary-anderson-fias-late-change-will-distort-the-2025-f1-title-fight/ The Spanish Grand Prix, when the new technical directive kicks in this year, is the ninth race of a 24-race season, which means a major change one-third of the way through the year. That means it’s almost a two-part championship, with the first running to the initial version of the rules and the rest to another. As far as I’m concerned, this is distorting the championship fight before it has even started. It reminds me of what happened when the double diffuser appeared in 2009. Three teams – Brawn, Williams and Toyota - started the season with it and Jenson Button ran away with the championship before the others were able to introduce their own version. It then became a close season, but Brawn’s early success ensured it won both championships. Those with more extreme wing flexibility early on in the 2025 season could benefit from a similar pattern. It’s difficult to quantify what this change will do to each individual car or indeed driver. It's more about what each car needs to get the best performance out of it, but it is a 33% reduction in the allowable deflection so it will have an impact. In some cases that will be positive, in others negative. I always say there’s no magic bullet in F1 because it’s about all the parts of the jigsaw working in harmony and creating the best overall package. It’s not about simply having the best flexible front wing, it’s how it works in conjunction with the underfloor, with the outer floor edges, and with the rear wing characteristics to produce the best aero map profile through the speed range that moves the balance of the car rearwards with speed. However, if you get your flexi-wing working correctly to enhance the other requirements of the car then you will have a faster car. Way back in September of last year, I wrote an article and brought to the table the fact that it is front wing rotation that is the critical issue here rather than wing deflection. The outer ends of the front wing mainplane and flaps are not large downforce producing components. It’s easy to see they are fairly flat in angle of attack and if that isn’t enough, the blockage of the front tyre will destroy any flow that might produce downforce. This area of the front wing is mainly used to generate outwash, which in turn reduces the potential inwash. If unmanaged, this would be detrimental to the downforce produced by the underfloor. It has taken the FIA more than three months to come up with this new technical directive. As far I can see, it is keeping the same loads and load location and reducing the vertical deflection from 15mm to 10mm. Yes, there will be a slight loss of front downforce with the end of the wing ‘theoretically’ five millimetres higher at very high speeds, but the impact will be minimal compared to the loss due to the rotation of completely flap assembly further inboard. If a team conceives its car to optimise the 15mm deflection for those first eight races and scores big points finishes then fine, but not every team is in a position to do that. Others will optimise for the 16 races where the deflection is reduced to 10mm. The difference could be a completely new front wing, underfloor and floor outer edge detail, so not cheap. I know we have the cost cap to restrict over spending, but surely the governing body should not be putting the teams in this position? The changes required for race nine will mean that any team that optimises its car for the first eight races will require a new front wing. Structurally, it will obviously need to change; however, profile wise it may also need to be different. These wings are designed to work optimally within a small window of adjustment. At some lower downforce circuits we often see the teams trim the trailing edge of the rearmost flap - this allows them to keep the flap assembly at its optimum angle. For some teams at some circuits this mid-2025 change might just put them outside of that optimum window more often. My other complaint is that the FIA hands down penalties to drivers when they make a poor decision and also fine teams for an unsafe release from their pit box, In both these instances, they have milliseconds to make that decision not three months - which is what the FIA have had to introduce new deflection tests. By now, the start of February, most teams will have put to bed their 2025 car characteristics and be focusing their top end design engineers on the 2026 car - which is being designed for major aerodynamic rule changes - leaving their not so experienced design engineers to dot the I’s and cross the T’s on the 2025 car’s development path. Now that all needs to change. If I was a technical director now I would be fairly miffed about this change. That’s not because I’d believe my front wing was flexing better than others, but because of it being a mid-season change. The FIA says “these adjustments are aimed at further refining our ability to monitor and enforce bodywork flexibility regulations, ensuring a level playing field for all competitors to promote fair and exciting racing” (my italics). In reality, this is in no way creating a level playing field. We all want a tight championship from the first to the last race, but the FIA has just scuppered that. I’m not saying it will happen, but it could turn into an eight-race championship and a-16 race championship.
Las Vegas GP brought forward by two hours as F1 2025 race times revealed The third edition of F1’s Las Vegas GP on the Strip Circuit street track will take place two hours earlier than the first two races for Sin City’s return to the calendar
Image Unavailable, Please Login This season, there are six sprint weekends. They will be hosted at the following weekends: China, Miami, Belgium, Austin, Sao Paulo and Qatar. These weekends are marked pink on the schedule above, and therefore, do not follow the regular pattern of FP1, FP2, FP3, Qualifying and Grand Prix. Those start times can be broken down into FP, Sprint Qualifying, Sprint, Qualifying, Grand Prix.
Summary of rookies for 2025 stats etc.... - https://www.espn.com/racing/f1/story/_/id/43705598/meet-rookies-expect-f1-class-2025-antonelli-bearman-bortoleto-doohan-hadjar-lawson
Netflix set to enter race for F1 broadcast rights in the United States The streaming service already plays a key role in growing the championship, with its seventh series of the Drive to Survive documentary series airing in the near future. But Autosport understands Netflix is now strongly considering a bid to secure live streaming rights to F1, with current holder ESPN’s exclusivity period to discuss fresh terms now expired. As reported by Autosport Business in October, there was early mummering within ESPN that a new deal would not be struck with Liberty Media, with the 2026 deal expected to eclipse the $90million a-year currently being paid.
McLaren Racing boss Zak Brown has weighed in on the ongoing debate over Formula 1 drivers swearing on team radios, arguing that it should be the job of television broadcasters – not the drivers – to manage foul language during live coverage. Brown believes that while cursing in a calm press conference setting is unnecessary, the raw emotions of racing should not be censored at the source. Speaking to James Allen on the latter’s F1 podcast, Brown made it clear that there’s a time and place for everything – including swearing. Instead of expecting drivers to filter their words in the middle of intense competition, Brown pointed to TV broadcasters as the ones responsible for deciding what goes on air. “We do have the power to hit the delay button or delete on the broadcast,” he stated. “You actually can control whether it makes it onto TV or not by just hitting the delete button.” For Brown, the solution is simple: let the emotions flow but be mindful of what gets aired. No Room for F-Bombs in Press Conferences “The swearing I agree with in certain circumstances, meaning in a press conference where everything is quite chilled out, there's no emotion involved, there's no reason to swear,” commented Brown. “I think showing the emotion and the passion and the intensity is good. A little bit of it is okay, but we've got the power in the production studio to hit the pause button,” he said. “So I think that's how you solve that. It would be unrealistic to say you can't swear when the helmet is on.”
FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem has reportedly stated that Formula 1 will once again rely on multiple race directors in 2025, marking a return to a system last seen in 2022. Speaking at the Summit of Sporting Stewards in Jarama, Spain, on Friday, Ben Sulayem also addressed the FIA’s controversial new guidelines aimed at regulating driver behavior, defending the decision as a necessary step to maintain discipline and professionalism in the sport. Race control in Formula 1 was given a makeover in 2022 in the wake of the controversy that rocked the sport at the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP, where contentious decisions by race director Michael Masi regarding a late pace car procedure turned the race on its head, to the detriment of race leader Lewis Hamilton. In 2022, the FIA experimented with a dual race director system, appointing Niels Wittich and Eduardo Freitas to share responsibilities. However, after a problematic handling of the 2022 Japanese GP, Freitas was removed, and Wittich took sole charge until November 2024, when he abruptly relinquished his role on the eve of the Las Vegas GP weekend. A Fresh Approach With uncertainty surrounding the 2025 season, Ben Sulayem confirmed a fresh approach. "There will be fresh blood, and more than one race director," he stated, according to a report from Dutch journalist Erik van Haren from De Telegraf.