2026 Watch

[ched999uk]

Max has completed 105 laps, so almost 2 complete Bahrain races!
Interesting approach, looks like they are testing reliability - maybe send PU back to analyse? I'm sort of surprised that they are not doing a few laps then changing the setup to see if they get correlation with the models. I suppose pushing the PU will give them data that takes a bit longer to analyse and then fix. Setup/aero testing might be more just adjustments so no quick fix mods to make at the factory.

There are lots of little bits of info that are going to take the commentators quite a bit of time to convey - sounds like no electrical off start line till 60kmh.
I wonder what data overlays we are going to get this year? I'm hoping for a fair bit of info but I think they might need to hide exactly how they operate throttle, brake, harvesting, deployment, battery charge level to name but a few.

 

[Justjazz]

If I understand correctly battery/ electrical power is 50% of the available energy, including the ICE. Using the battery from the start however, after achieving 50 kph, is likely to drain the electrical power and impact the rest of the lap. Does that imply the power is not rapidly harnessed? Will be interesting to properly see the capability of this new power pack.

 

[ched999uk]

If I understand correctly battery/ electrical power is 50% of the available energy, including the ICE. Using the battery from the start however, after achieving 50 kph, is likely to drain the electrical power and impact the rest of the lap. Does that imply the power is not rapidly harnessed? Will be interesting to properly see the capability of this new power pack.

ICE is supposed to be approximately 400kW (approx. 536 hp) and MGU-K is 350kW (approx. 469 hp). So not quite 50:50 but they seem to be saying 50:50 for convenience.

There is an energy harvesting limit of approximately 8.5 megajoules (MJ) per lap. The energy value of 8.5 MJ is equal to approximately 2.3611 kWh which equates to approximately 24 seconds of the full 350Kw MGU-K per lap. The max capacity of the battery is 4 MJ about 11 seconds of battery power per lap with zero recharge.

I think the harvesting of the full 8.5MJ per lap might be tricky to manage. Looking at todays throttle and brake data while testing was interesting. Max seemed to be lifting say 1 second before applying the brakes, so I guess he was harvesting. There has also been talk of revving the ICE mid corner just to provide charge.

I hope they (FIA/FOM) give us some info about the harvesting/deployment/battery charge etc but I doubt it as each team will want that kept to themselves.

 

[Sportista]

Interesting day.

Max and RedBull did some seriously impressive long runs

McLaren and RedBull showed some headline pace.

Ferrari a bit of a sleeper hit with some impressive (but not at RedBull level) long runs in the afternoon, meanwhile Hamilton has started making excuses/complaints. Hopefully he gets the afternoon session tomorrow and we can see if was just a bit disenchanted having had the tricky morning session.

Williams had a good solid day from not a pace and reliability point of view, a good step forward after missing shakedown.

*******
I did get to watch some of the coverage, but was multitasking. A few basic observations.

Alex Brundle talks just like his Dad, if you don’t pay attention to the actual voice it sounds just like Martin - it’s quite unsettling!

A lot of the cars look really unrefined, especially Ferrari, Williams, Audi, Alpine. Only Mercedes and RedBull look like they’ve pushed their packaging so far (maybe Haas, but it’s hard to pick out shapes with so much white). This is based on the look of the cars around the sidepod to the engine transition area primarily, where there are obvious differences. I think there’s still a lot more to come next week/in Aus.

The timing screen looks much “cooler” with Cadillac and Audi logos on it. It feels like F1 has gone up a level.

The last hour might not have been the best bit for television as there was a lot of long running going on, but at times the cars look really slow, kind of like F1.5. The performance out of corners is impressive, but especially onboard it’s clear how much of the second half of a straight is really compromised by recharging - onboard shots really highlight this. The cars look ok in slow corners, but a bit disappointing in high speed and medium speed. They do seem harder for the drivers to manage though and being on the edge is more noticeable.

The seems to be quite some variation in driving styles at this stage, in particular Verstappen and Antonelli really stood out.

Although the Mercedes wasn’t particularly fast today the car does look “right” both aesthetically and on track- I’m anticipating some sandbagging to try and minimise any compression ratio pressure/incentive, but today doesn’t worry me for their performance this year - I still think there’s a very good chance they’re actually the team to beat.

 

[Justjazz]

Interesting day.

Max and RedBull did some seriously impressive long runs

McLaren and RedBull showed some headline pace.

Ferrari a bit of a sleeper hit with some impressive (but not at RedBull level) long runs in the afternoon, meanwhile Hamilton has started making excuses/complaints. Hopefully he gets the afternoon session tomorrow and we can see if was just a bit disenchanted having had the tricky morning session.

Williams had a good solid day from not a pace and reliability point of view, a good step forward after missing shakedown.

*******
I did get to watch some of the coverage, but was multitasking. A few basic observations.

Alex Brundle talks just like his Dad, if you don’t pay attention to the actual voice it sounds just like Martin - it’s quite unsettling!

A lot of the cars look really unrefined, especially Ferrari, Williams, Audi, Alpine. Only Mercedes and RedBull look like they’ve pushed their packaging so far (maybe Haas, but it’s hard to pick out shapes with so much white). This is based on the look of the cars around the sidepod to the engine transition area primarily, where there are obvious differences. I think there’s still a lot more to come next week/in Aus.

The timing screen looks much “cooler” with Cadillac and Audi logos on it. It feels like F1 has gone up a level.

The last hour might not have been the best bit for television as there was a lot of long running going on, but at times the cars look really slow, kind of like F1.5. The performance out of corners is impressive, but especially onboard it’s clear how much of the second half of a straight is really compromised by recharging - onboard shots really highlight this. The cars look ok in slow corners, but a bit disappointing in high speed and medium speed. They do seem harder for the drivers to manage though and being on the edge is more noticeable.

The seems to be quite some variation in driving styles at this stage, in particular Verstappen and Antonelli really stood out.

Although the Mercedes wasn’t particularly fast today the car does look “right” both aesthetically and on track- I’m anticipating some sandbagging to try and minimise any compression ratio pressure/incentive, but today doesn’t worry me for their performance this year - I still think there’s a very good chance they’re actually the team to beat.

The objective of all the changes is to make the racing more of a spectacle. Based on your observations that might be true, I.e. more overtaking. Sounds like a lot more will be dependent on the driver, where and how they use the power. Lap records may not be the order of the day, number of overtakes might be the new measure but Mercedes may have pulled it off with their compression ratio. We will have to wait to see whether the racing itself warrants the changes.
I really do hope we are not going to see one team dominate.

 

[Julius Caesar]

Credit where it's due to Red Bull

Setting up engine manufacturing from scratch and being competitive right out of the gate is extremely impressive. I was expecting them to end up in the midfield.

 

[ched999uk]

Seems like Max is shifting down 1 gear lower than normal is some corners. Talk is that he is doing it to increase revs to recharge batteries more.

The thing I don't get is there is a max of 8.5 MJ of electrical energy to be harvested per lap. The battery is only 4 MJ, so does that mean the Red Bull is poor at harvesting so they are having to get more revs to harvest?

Toto seems to be suggesting that Red Bull may be 1 sec a lap faster on the straights - although I do wonder if that's to keep Mercs real performance under wraps till homologation on 1st March, or until the hot compression ratio debate is sorted?

4MJ powering a 350Kw motor is going to run for about 12 seconds, so in theory if you can harvest the full 8.5MJ then that gives about 24 seconds of full 350Kw power per lap.

Overtake Mode: team use as they see fit.
Boost button: allows the use of an extra +0.5MJ (about 1.5 seconds of 350Kw) for the duration of the lap! Drivers can activate this mode when within one second of the car ahead at a detection point.

I would love to see how much charge they have in their batteries during the laps but I very much doubt that will happen as it gives away vital info to the competitors.

 

[Sportista]

Seems like Max is shifting down 1 gear lower than normal is some corners. Talk is that he is doing it to increase revs to recharge batteries more.

The thing I don't get is there is a max of 8.5 MJ of electrical energy to be harvested per lap. The battery is only 4 MJ, so does that mean the Red Bull is poor at harvesting so they are having to get more revs to harvest?

I think this is about efficiency, regenerative braking energy is free energy (otherwise wasted to heat in the brakes), so it’s the best kind to generate. Presumably they are well above idle speed in both first and second gear, so I assume this about getting the MGU-K into its most efficient speed range.

It seems other teams are doing this now too, with some variation in success according to car and driver. The Ferrari powered cars (all of whom use the Ferrari gearbox) apparently aren’t/can’t because their first gear is too short.


This seems to be related to another emerging story about how hard the cars are to get moving from a standing start. They seem to need revving up for 10s (wow!) to spin up the turbo, and then a lot of clutch slipping as they pull away. Apparently there was some discussion last year about changes to start procedures, or being allowed to use the MGU-K at lower speed to mitigate this and Ferrari blocked it because it would harm those who’d designed their engines to ameliorate it. Presumably that means their engine is designed for more low speed torque and/or that their first gear is really short, so revs are generally higher at low car speeds. Should give them an advantage at starts and pit stops, but presumably at a cost of something else to do with ICE efficiency/performance.

 

[Sportista]

This day seems to have been a bit less revealing.

McLaren had another good day and seem to be going nicely now following a slow start. Ferrari also there again, they’re definitely the most consistent of all the teams in terms of always delivering a quick lap, but it could just be their run plan always includes something that will give them a headline time. It’s not possible to get a proper sense of car pace yet, but Ferrari is alone in showing leading pace and having a really basic Aero package, I do think Ferrari fans can have reason to be hopeful (or fearful they’re about to ruin a good platform).

Merc (sounds like engine side) and RedBull (car side) had some issues and effectively missed the morning.
Cadillac look to have been making good progress and did a lap time within 2.5% of today’s fastest, which is probably better than I expected at any point this year.

It didn’t seem like many teams were going for headline times today, but live timing was lost for a bit so there doesn’t seem to be much long run data available and has lessened what we can learn.

Again I was able to catch a bit of the televised session. It was harder to pick up much more over yesterday. I saw the RB today and it looks stiff, similar story for the Aston (neither was running in the last hour yesterday). Also noticeable how much Aston have had to open up cooling gills, even more than Cadillac.

Off the track, Max has had a dig at the rules (saying they aren’t fun) and Norris has come out in their defence.

 

[Sportista]

One positive for 2026, is that the cars are now weighed without the tyres and then a standard amount is added on to get to the minimum car weight. It’s 1.5 years too late for George Russell, but a very sensible step forward in my opinion.

 

[ched999uk]

Sounds like the starts are going to be very interesting. The MGU-K is not allowed to operate at the start below 50kmph. They no longer have the MGU-H to spool up the turbo, so they are sitting on the grid for 10 seconds revving the engine to spool up the turbo for the start. They say that 1 in 20 times they get it wrong and have virtually zero boost from the turbo. So that suggests that on every start 1 car will be left almost sitting in it's grid slot on the start!!
They are suggesting that those who qualify at the back end might not have enough time to rev to spool up the turbo. I'm wondering if the backmarkers might have an advantage in that they wont be sitting on the grid to spool up the turbo, they will have just been driving to the grid so might be able to spool up better than those sitting on the grid for 30 seconds or so?

I do think the first 6 races or so will be mixed up on the starts and results till they all get the energy management sorted.

Sounds like Honda have done it again and miss calculated the heat rejection of the PU. Adrian will be demanding the smallest radiators and cooling air requirements and I do wonder if Honda thought they could run will less cooling that they actually need?

 

[Julius Caesar]

Sounds like the starts are going to be very interesting. The MGU-K is not allowed to operate at the start below 50kmph. They no longer have the MGU-H to spool up the turbo, so they are sitting on the grid for 10 seconds revving the engine to spool up the turbo for the start. They say that 1 in 20 times they get it wrong and have virtually zero boost from the turbo. So that suggests that on every start 1 car will be left almost sitting in it's grid slot on the start!!
They are suggesting that those who qualify at the back end might not have enough time to rev to spool up the turbo. I'm wondering if the backmarkers might have an advantage in that they wont be sitting on the grid to spool up the turbo, they will have just been driving to the grid so might be able to spool up better than those sitting on the grid for 30 seconds or so?

I do think the first 6 races or so will be mixed up on the starts and results till they all get the energy management sorted.

Sounds like Honda have done it again and miss calculated the heat rejection of the PU. Adrian will be demanding the smallest radiators and cooling air requirements and I do wonder if Honda thought they could run will less cooling that they actually need?

Had a giggle watching a clip of the practice starts today. 7 cars line up on the grid, 4 of them stall.

Sure they'll have that ironed by Australia

 

[Sportista]

Some interesting race runs at the end yesterday.

Last year the final stint in the race was 20 laps following a safety car. Piastri did a couple of quick laps and then settled in to a consistent pace around 1:36.2

So assuming the 2s deficit for these cars (which is maybe generous given this seems to be a relatively easy circuit to recharge on) we have these comparisons, from Friday afternoon

Piastri, Stint 3: Hard, 18 laps (1m38.472s avg)
Hamilton: Stint 2: Hard, 17 laps (1m38.929s avg) this seems really impressive given the extra fuel.
Ocon: Stint 3: Hard, 16 laps (1m39.869s avg)
Albon: Stint 3: Medium, 18 laps (1m40.241s avg)
Perez: Stint 3: Hard, 21 laps (1m41.275s avg) - 1.3s off the front of the midfield and 2.8 off the front seems surprisingly impressive.

Unfortunately no real comparator laps for RedBull engine cars, or Merc, - it seems some of Antonelli’s time was lost, shortening his stints, but what is comparable seems to be close to the Ferrari.

There’s a lot of talk about sandbagging, but to me these times aren’t hugely far off what we might have expected. Cadillac are surprisingly close comparing front to back, so maybe we should be thinking more in terms of a 1:37.2 target, meaning they’ve all got potentially a second in their pockets at the front? I also think with these kinds of averages, being around 5s off the fastest laps we’ve seen that’s pretty similar to the old hybrids, so either we’re missing a lot of headline pace, or they are able balance the pack on a lap whilst going quickly (contrary to Toto’s comments on RedBull, being the only ones who could).

Right now if you’re trying to call it, I’d say Merc and Ferrari are close, McLaren are a bit off and RedBull are in and around that pack somewhere. It also seems no-one is going to bridge the gap to that front group in the short term, if anything it’s moved away from the midfield.

 

[ched999uk]

From what I have read Honda have applied restricted running to Aston, I read about revs limit of 11,000rpm (there is technically no cap due to fuel flow limits but suggestions that other ice car rev to 12,000 to 15,000rpm) and a max speed limit of 300kph. I'm also guessing that they won't be running at full power to reduce heat. So that would explain most if not all of the 4 seconds Aston need to find.
Seems like the Aston/Honda integration isn't going too well. Sounds like the ICE can't get enough cooling from the super tight bodywork. So either Honda predicted a significantly lower amount of heat would be generated or Adrian and co miss calculated the amount of heat they could reject.

I do hope they can sort the PU issue out quickly and we can really see the car that Adrian has created, with lots of others obviously. I feel that this is the car he has always wanted to design but other departments had always forced him to compromise. Now he is in charge, he can do what he thinks best.

 

[ched999uk]

Just watching Ted's Notebook, he shows a picture of Mercs wheels and they seem like they are fully enclosed at the front, so no air can escape to the outside of the car!

 

[ched999uk]

A thought on the Hot compression ratio topic: If they change the test for this year that brings every rule into question. i.e. if they change 1 rule because most of the PU suppliers don't like it what is to stop them changing any rule the teams or PU suppliers don't like to harm one of the other competitors?

 

[ched999uk]

Just found out what the different flashes from the rear red lights mean:

1 flash = MGU-K not at full output
2 flashes = MGU-K not putting any power output
Multiple flashes = MGU-K recharging battery but ICE at full power

 

[Sportista]

A thought on the Hot compression ratio topic: If they change the test for this year that brings every rule into question. i.e. if they change 1 rule because most of the PU suppliers don't like it what is to stop them changing any rule the teams or PU suppliers don't like to harm one of the other competitors?

I guess this one is about intention? Toto wants us to believe the FIA were fully aware of what they were up to and are ok with it. The teams that are complaining want us to believe the intent of the rule was always to cap the compression ratio to 16:1 at all times/in all conditions. The teams are probably right that this was the original intent, but there’s a crack in this specific rule that means either could be right today and the FIA can now make a political choice and justify it either way. A similar situation probably doesn’t exist around the majority of the remaining rules, as they don’t have similar condition caveats.

 

[Sportista]

Seems to be practically confirmed now that Ferrari have gone for a smaller Turbo, to help start performance, but then at the cost of ultimate boost.

For the older fans amongst us, was this a problem in the 1980s, it’s well publicised that turbo lag was a huge issue in driving conditions and they were running a higher boost limit and making much more power from a similarly sized engine, but I don’t think I recall reading or hearing anything about the starts being an issue?

If it is worse, I guess it could be that these engines are optimised around energy efficiency and so have rubbish low end torque compared to those 1980s engines, which didn’t have to worry about such things? Or maybe just that the cars are so much heavier nowadays?

 

[ched999uk]

Seems to be practically confirmed now that Ferrari have gone for a smaller Turbo, to help start performance, but then at the cost of ultimate boost.

For the older fans amongst us, was this a problem in the 1980s, it’s well publicised that turbo lag was a huge issue in driving conditions and they were running a higher boost limit and making much more power from a similarly sized engine, but I don’t think I recall reading or hearing anything about the starts being an issue?

If it is worse, I guess it could be that these engines are optimised around energy efficiency and so have rubbish low end torque compared to those 1980s engines, which didn’t have to worry about such things? Or maybe just that the cars are so much heavier nowadays?

I think the start is a unique circumstance for the race as the MGU-K isn't allowed till above 50kph, so they rely on just the ICE to get going. When in the race they can use the MGU-K at zero speed and mitigate the turbo lag. I'm guessing that they optimised the PU for the race and almost ignored the start as they couldn't come up with a decent solution that didn't compromise the race.

In the 80's the ICE was the only power source from 0mph at the start and in slow corners so they optimised them for the whole race, start to finish.

I think the easy solution is to allow the MGU-K to be used at the start but I think, when it was raised Ferrari vetoed the idea as they planned to use a smaller turbo to reduce lag?