2026 Season Preview

Eddie99 said:
...it doesn't make the engine legal if it exceeds a 16.0 ratio outside of test conditions as it very clearly says at all times during a competition.
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Legality is based on testing (it's the only way it can be) and if a car passes testing then it's deemed legal by the FIA - both the Red Bull and Mercedes PU's are (currently) legal.
As @SKILL mentioned, it's the same situation we had with flexi-wings; the FIA increasingly made testing around the wings more strident over the season in response.

Fact is, the FIA could have easily made this not a thing with better/stricter wording around the compression ratio testing procedure but they decided to leave the door open for interpretation - even though they know what technology teams use and have known since the inauguration of the sport, teams will bend the wording of the regs :rolleyes:
 
The Aston Martin live launch isn't going well !

No sound for 3 mins whilst Lawrence Stroll was introducing it, then Lance walks on and says a few words, the sounds comes back for 20 seconds. Alonso starts talking and it cuts off to an AM logo screen, then the multi colour blocks and now it's unavailable :cry:
 
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SDK^ said:
The Aston Martin live launch isn't going well !

No sound for 3 mins whilst Lawrence Stroll was introducitng it, then Lance walks on and says a few words, the sounds comes back, for 20 seocnds. Alonso starts talking and it cuts to a black AM logo screen. No it's unavailable :cry:
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Was just about to post this :cry:

GP2 Stream

Probably all pre-recorded, they realised Strolls speech wasn't heard and they will probably start it again haha.

*Edit*

Yup, it's just started again and the exact same entrance from Lawerence. Or he's a good actor haha. The same fist bumping entrances from the drivers too. :cry:
 
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Lance starts the season as he means to continue - by crashing the broadcast.

Mad_Jay said:
Probably all pre-recorded, they realised Strolls speech wasn't heard and they will probably start it again haha.
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Yep, exactly what they've done. It's just starting again now.
 
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Here's an interesting video with a simulation of how 'super-clipping' will affect some races with extremely long straights. It's going to take some getting used to downshifting while they're full throttle in a straight line. Also, the expectation of having to LICO in qualifying is disappointing to say the least.

 
What the actual? Sky F1 Germany isn't doing live coverage of the test? 80 flipping minutes for the fortune they charge? Unbelievable.

Are you getting screwed over in the UK too?
 
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The first Bahrain test has been limited to 1 hour of tv broadcast a day, which has been allocated to the final hour of each day by F1.

The second test will be fully televised like previous seasons, I imagine for that the commentary duties will be shared by Sky Sports UK and F1 TV again.

The main difference with the Bahrain tests is all the usual media folk are allowed there for the full days of testing unlike Barcelona. So there will be pictures and media updates from the usual journalists and the teams aren't limited to the hilarious 6 pieces of media a day like in Spain :cry:

I do think the die hard fans want every minute of testing covered, but not a lot actually happens. When they do that the casual fans are like 'Well this is boring' and write a mean tweet about it.

So F1 themselves just try and find a balance I guess.
 
Eddie99 said:
This was added in October to clarify how they would test compliance, presumably at the request of Mercedes, it doesn't make the engine legal if it exceeds a 16.0 ratio outside of test conditions as it very clearly says at all times during a competition. As I said before it's a clever way of getting around the testing of the regulations, no different to the Ferrari 2019 engine. If it's okay for Mercedes to ask for testing clarification as late as October then I have no issue with the other teams seeking further clarification to ensure compliance.
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Sorry meant to reply to this earlier, here's the rule from the current version 15 of the Technical regulations (emphasis mine):

C5.4.3 No cylinder of the engine may have a geometric compression ratio higher than 16.0. The procedure to measure this value will be detailed by each PU Manufacturer according to the Guidance Document FIA-F1-DOC-C042 and executed at ambient temperature. This procedure must be approved by the FIA Technical Department and included in the PU Manufacturer homologation dossier.​

There's no ambiguity here, the rules talk about the geometric compression ratio measured at ambient temperature. This matters because geometric compression ratio is a value calculated from measuring the dimensions of the parts (rather than a measured pressure or anything) and it will always be different at the high temperatures at which engines run because metal expands at higher temperatures and thus the rule, in order to mean anything, needs to specify the temperature it is to be measured at. Honestly, it's not really clear how you'd even go about measuring the geometric ration in an engine whilst it is running? I guess they'd probably have to fall back on modelling.
 
GravyMonster said:
Here's an interesting video with a simulation of how 'super-clipping' will affect some races with extremely long straights. It's going to take some getting used to downshifting while they're full throttle in a straight line. Also, the expectation of having to LICO in qualifying is disappointing to say the least.

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As technically clever as all this stuff is, it doesn't really excite me or lead me to think the racing will be more exciting because of it. It just feels like you'll be shafted if you mess a downshift up, forget to press x button on your wheel, your gearbox exploding because you're min/maxing all your settings to go faster and its not particularly mechanically sympathetic etc... Still, i guess we just need to wait and see?
 
el_dazza said:
Just looking at the odds for the title and I'm quite surprised..

Russell 7/4
Verstappen 7/2
Alonso 7/1
Norris 7/1
Antonelli 9/1
Piastri 12/1
Leclerc 14/1
Hamilton 16/1
100/1+ for anyone else.

Constructors:
Mercedes 1/1
McLaren 2/1
Ferrari 6/1
Red Bull 10/1
Aston Martin 12/1
Alpine 40/1
Audi 66/1
Williams 66/1
Haas 200/1
RB 250/1
Cadillac 500/1

Alonso? Really? Be interesting to see how this changes come testing time.
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This is how it's moved after testing..

Russell 7/4, now 2/1
Verstappen 7/2, now 3/1
Alonso 7/1, now 50/1 :eek:
Norris 7/1, now 9/1
Antonelli 9/1, now 8/1
Piastri 12/1, now 14/1
Leclerc 14/1, now 5/1 :eek:
Hamilton 16/1, now 7/1 :eek:
150/1+ for anyone else.

Constructors:
Mercedes 1/1, now 6/5
McLaren 2/1, now 5/2
Ferrari 6/1, now 11/4
Red Bull 10/1, now 7/1
Aston Martin 12/1, now 33/1
Alpine 40/1, now 66/1
Audi 66/1, now 150/1
Williams 66/1 still
Haas 200/1 still
RB 250/1, now 300/1
Cadillac 500/1 still

Clearly a fancy for Ferrari!
 
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