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Yeah, but.... There's no feeling of speed when you watch them....
F1 is so much more than what you see on the telly box.
Rallying is great but so, so hard to get to the fans and TV viewers - stages are hard to view unless you are in the know for the best vantage spots. It's like a secret sport. And WRC is in a bit of a crisis at the minute with top drivers leaving and only three factory teams.
Ask people on the street who won this years WRC title and who won the F1 title. Only motorsport fans will know the WRC winner.
TBH I couldn't name the current WRC champ! Its a shame as I grew up watching group A in the 90s and it was awesome, all the major manufacturers had teams, same with the supertouring BTCC era.
TBH I couldn't name the current WRC champ!
It's Seb Ogier (again!) - and he didn't even do a full season!
I'm going to say kali rovenpera(sp)? (Edit: I was wrong.)
I'd like to go a rally as it is impressive. Time trials get a bit dull though, seeing one car doing the same thing round the same bend over and over.... I went to Spa last year and although actually watching the full race would be better on telly the atmoshpere was amazing. I've been to other big sporting events, Rugby at Twickenham, England Cricket various formats, football matches but the F1 was just different. I couldn't get my head around how big it was.
The sound of the cars was rediculous* and seeing a load of cars coming past at the same(ish) time and oevrtakes going into the bend was great.
*Although they do sound like they're going to break down any minute when they just trundling round and not turned up to 11!
Cars going fast innit.
Yeah, but.... There's no feeling of speed when you watch them....
Went to a rally last year in Italy. That was impressive.... Seeing cars hammering along tiny roads going sideways just a few meters away.
go to Silverstone, get yourself down at track level, and watch an f1 car come down the straight and round Copse.....
Cars going fast innit.
Yeah, but.... There's no feeling of speed when you watch them....
Went to a rally last year in Italy. That was impressive.... Seeing cars hammering along tiny roads going sideways just a few meters away.
go to Silverstone, get yourself down at track level, and watch an f1 car come down the straight and round Copse.....
This. We were sat there for qualifying this year, unreal speed.
kali rovenpera
He's left WRC now and is competing in Super Formula in Japan next season with the aim of trying to get into F1.
It's sad that drivers of his calibre can't see a long term WRC future.
https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/first-look-at-movable-front-wing-prototype-on-f1-2026-mule-cars/
Are these the Pepsi tubes as part of next years branding🤣
Shock news! MBS has been elected for another 4 years as FIA president.
Anyway - who's gonna win the championship!!?
I'm gonna say Leclerc. Ferrari stopped developing their car pretty early to focus on 2026, plus they will have more wind tunnel time. Pretty much nothing will carry over from this year's cars so the key thing will be how quickly teams can develop their cars next year. I'm sure Ferrari will find a way to blow it, but the new regs are their best chance to leapfrog back to the front.
The romantic in me wants a smaller team to hit a development breakthrough (a la Brawn) and a driver like Gasly or Stroll Jnr to be in with a shout. Alternatively; Hamilton regains his mojo and suddenly he's back dicing for podiums. Or Cadillac defies the pundits and storms to the front and we get a season of Bottas and Perez fighting for first corners. With the cost cap and wind tunnel testing regime genuinely starting to close the gaps, and a new regulations era, anything is possible.
The romantic in me wants a smaller team to hit a development breakthrough
Williams would be the obvious candidate. They stopped developing last year's car very early on and have a lot more wind tunnel time than the other Mercedes powered teams. If the Merc engine is as far ahead as last time, they might be contenders.
Williams would be the obvious candidate. They stopped developing last year's car very early on and have a lot more wind tunnel time than the other Mercedes powered teams. If the Merc engine is as far ahead as last time, they might be contenders.
As a Williams fan, if they could finish the constructors top 4 I'd be very happy (ideally pushing out RBR 😁).
I suppose Audi/Sauber are the big unknown. They've got a lot of smart people working there but PU and chassis is a big ask.
I'm sure Ferrari will find a way to blow it
This I can agree with!
Portimao is coming back for two years to replace Zandvoort ('27 and '28)
I'm sure Ferrari will find a way to blow it
This I can agree with
Interestingly, Sky Bets has Leclerc a long way down the list in terms of odds for the drivers world champs, behind Alonso and Kimi Antonelli. 25/1! They clearly have no faith in Ferrari at all
Portimao is coming back for two years to replace Zandvoort ('27 and '28)
I’ve got good memories of this track in ‘21 and ‘22
Car nerds : good video here showing how the regulation boxes are used for the 26 cars
Cars going fast innit.
Yeah, but.... There's no feeling of speed when you watch them....
Went to a rally last year in Italy. That was impressive.... Seeing cars hammering along tiny roads going sideways just a few meters away.
go to Silverstone, get yourself down at track level, and watch an f1 car come down the straight and round Copse.....
This. We were sat there for qualifying this year, unreal speed.
The single most impressive thing I ever saw a racing car do was Schumacher in qualifying, about '96 or '97, sitting on the outside of Copse looking back down the old start straight, full chat towards you and BAM! Just the speed and precision of the turn in, absolute commitment, zero margin for error - it was breathtaking, visibly a different level to everyone else.
To be fair, I haven't seen a contemporary WRC car driven in anger since Lancia Stratosses were bashing through Sutton Park at night, a long time ago. 🙂
This was breaking on Twitter yesterday…
https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/trick-at-centre-of-2026-f1-engine-loophole-controversy/
Been thinking what they’ve been up to since yesterday - my brain still hurts
Im not sure what the fuss about this is. From my understanding the way the compression ratio is measured for compliance hasn’t changed from the previous rules cycle. Therefore presumably teams have been exploiting this for the whole of the last rules cycle for the same reasons
I’m sure someone clever will be along to explain and I may have completely misunderstood.
How would you safely measure the exact compression ratio when the engine is at operating temperature? Given the EGT (exhaust gas temperature) would, I assume be well north of 800c.
How would you safely measure the exact compression ratio when the engine is at operating temperature?
I don't think it would be possible to measure it with the combustion chamber at the actual operating temperature (which will vary during the operating cycle anyway), and I also don't see this as a problem anyway. It just sounds like the typical whining from teams who want to penalize rivals for doing a better job.
The rules say that cars should be in compliance with all the rules during the race, so any team that exploits this will be cheating 🤷♂️
There are sonic devices that are sometimes used - I think NASCAR use a device that measures the volume of the combustion chamber while engines are hot (but not at operating temp), but I don't think the FIA could use that because the rules say - at ambient temp.
any team that exploits this will be cheating
If the rules specify the CR at ambient temperature, any engine that complies with that is legal.
If the rules specify the CR at ambient temperature, any engine that complies with that is legal
Sure, but this is F1
The rules say that cars should be in compliance with all the rules during the race, so any team that exploits this will be cheating
Wings comply with the static load tests when tested.
Teams design them to flex when on track - so any team playing the 'must comply at all times' card is hypocritical.
Here's another potential loophole.
https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/another-f1-2026-engine-rules-loophole-closed-fia/
Im not sure what the fuss about this is. From my understanding the way the compression ratio is measured for compliance hasn’t changed from the previous rules cycle. Therefore presumably teams have been exploiting this for the whole of the last rules cycle for the same reasons
I don't know when they thought of it, or the technology made it possible, but the engines have been fixed for a few years haven't they? (Much to Renault's annoyance) So they've probably been working in it for a while, waiting for an opportunity to actually use it
@multi21, really liked that explainer video, thanks for sharing.
You're welcome, it's a great channel, he's really good at explaining the finer points without making the videos too long.
He said recently these 26 regs have been written in a naive way that leaves lots of loopholes open. He's just put a video up explaining how the inwash bargeboard can legally be turned into an outwashing one.
There is also a vid with his take on the compression ratio thing (which is basically as surmised in the posts above, basically the text of the rule has been written badly, opening the loophole which didn't exist in the previous ruleset).
the text of the rule has been written badly, opening the loophole which didn't exist in the previous ruleset
AIUI, the rules about the compression ratio haven't changed, apart from a lower CR due to the sustainable fuels. The CR is measured at ambient temperature, which is really the only practical way to do it.
All engines will have a different CR when they are running than the static CR measured when they are cold because the pistons, conrods, cylinder block, and cylinder head all expand. I think F1 conrods are titanium, which expands less than steel and aluminium, but, if an aluminium rod could handle the stresses, that would bump up the CR at operating temperature, especially if you could control the heating of the conrod by squirting hot oil on it, for example. However, if one team can make that work, the others can too so it's up to them to do a better job.
AIUI, the rules about the compression ratio haven't changed, apart from a lower CR due to the sustainable fuels. The CR is measured at ambient temperature, which is really the only practical way to do it.
As I mentioned, Buchan's video explains this a lot better than I can, and has screenshots of the rules in question showing the change:
Hopefully there's loads of exploiting of loopholes and we get a very mixed up field next year.
I wonder if there'll be more breakdowns, F1 cars have become very reliable in the last few years.
I think I read somewhere that Ferrari are planning on taking a fairly basic version of their car to the first test and just focus on getting everything running reliably, then worry about performance later. I suspect all the teams will do that and we won't see the final iterations of the cars until the third test.
One for the Green Wing fans…
It would appear there are more loopholes to exploit in these rules than the average colander. Another B -sport video showed how easy it is to design outwashing barge boards within the rules despite the intention to make that not possible. Im sure the teams have found lots more they can exploit.
Can I just add, that in amongst all the rule changes and speculation about engines and clever ways to get around the intent of the aero rules. The fact that teams are again allowed to design their own wheels, and we've probs seen the end of the dustbin lids, is personally, something I'm really happy about.
Hate to spoil your happiness nickc - but there was an amendment to the regs and wheelcovers are apparently staying. And with the new regs aimed at minimising out-wash* removal of wheel covers would allow teams to play with fancy wheels and brake drums again.
I was so looking forward to seeing the back of them too! ☹️
https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/comments/1pjakk3/wheel_covers_are_staying_for_2026/
(*hence the massive bargeboards)
Oh, FFS
Only two weeks till the first team renders get released (Haas) - so hopefully we'll get a better idea of the final look soon.
And they'd better not just re-skin the FIA renders!!