2026 Season Preview

The Piastri chat all seems to have been born from comments by Rebecca Clancy (F1 journo) on a podcast about rumours in the paddock:

“We know that both McLaren drivers are signed on multi-year contracts; they never tell us exactly how long.


“Piastri’s contract is thought to run to the end of 2028; however, there were a lot of rumours in the paddock over the weekend that Piastri was looking to join Red Bull from 2027.
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Him looking for a 2027 move seems entirely plausible but obviously all the headlines contain words like 'SHOCK EXIT??' as if he's about to leave tomorrow.
 
Maybe Ferrari will spring a surprise next year. Didn't they bail on developing really early?

Alpine better do better. I assume they gave up on this year early too. And binned off that garbage engine. Though not sure I really like that team anymore
 
ChrisD. said:
I'm in Australia at the moment, local media are reporting Oscar is looking to leave McLaren. Not sure if it's local chit chat or more credible. Not sure if it's being reported in the UK.
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Probably the usual end of season/silly-season stuff tbh. Why would he look to leave now to take a punt on a new team? Doesn't make any sense.

Interesting that everyone's harping on about Merc being the front runner due to the engine. But even though this isn't ground effect as we know it, with all the active-aero nonsense going on surely that side of things is going to be even more important than ever? So, basically Stroll is going to win? :p
 
I watched some classic F1 races recently
and I’ve almost forgotten how incredible those cars sounded.

That said, it is amazing how reliable they’ve made the engines now considering the comparable power.

koolpc said:
I can def see Max moving teams if RB end up designing a brick on 4 wheels!!!
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To whichever team has nailed the rules. I’m curious to see what RB manage without Newey.
 
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Feek said:
I think the V10 sounded better than the V12.
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I'm a V10 over V12 fan the sheer RPM on those things adds more than the loss of 2 cyllinders takes away.

But this is a bit like comparing two delicious deserts. Both are very satisfying, especially compared to the tesco meal deal sweet we have today.
 
I think a few things could happen:

1. Pecking order stays mostly the same but add in reliability issues and over complication = possibly poor viewing experience for fans.
or
2. Someone does a Brawn and interprets something completely differently to other teams and designs their whole car around it. It get's accepted and works so well that other teams take too long to catch up allowing them to win the championship. Possibly Aston.
or
3. Same as above but with Mercs engine having something unique like the beginning of the hybrid era with the split turbo design.
 
jaybee said:
2. Someone does a Brawn and interprets something completely differently to other teams and designs their whole car around it. It get's accepted and works so well that other teams take too long to catch up allowing them to win the championship. Possibly Aston.
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That would be kinda awesome, the thought of yuji ide-stroll and alonso with his zimmer frame competing for a title... delicious.
 
Orange Arrows took us to the Malaysian GP in 2000, We were on the grandstand directly opposite the Podium. It was a sea of people putting their fingers in their ears when the cars were on the way. You could hear them coming down the Penang straight directly behind which gave you a decent heads of of the ear carnage about to descend
 
Isn't the actual combustion engine parts of the power unit the same? So they will all sound the same as previous V6 1.6 litres.

I guess it will all come down to how well the manufacturers develop the new hybrid tech snd extra power used from it.

From a PU perspective I'd probably go with option 1 above.

For the car, I can see it being option 2 until the teams figure whats best, copy it and then they are all the same and follow each other until the next regulation change.

I'd like it to be wildly different, but I can't see it.
 
Mad_Jay said:
Isn't the actual combustion engine parts of the power unit the same? So they will all sound the same as previous V6 1.6 litres.
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Yes and no - it effectively is but there are changes to fuel flow, the MGU-H is gone (which may impact exhaust sound), they are demanding less power (so probably different maps in terms of torque distribution?), i think I recall reading the turbos are permitted to spin faster now too.

Lots of small subtle changes in terms of the ICE but might actually add up to 'more than the sum' if you like, in terms of perceptions
 
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