The Official F1 2026 silly season *contains speculation*

[ajprice]

MartG said:

Max's jet just arrived at Manchester Airport - I wonder where he's going

PH registration number too. Always knew he was a fan of this place .

[sb-1]

Anyone else worried about the comments coming from the drivers.Have these new regs ruin F1?

Guess we will find out after the first few races.

[SpudLink]

sb-1 said:

Anyone else worried about the comments coming from the drivers.Have these new regs ruin F1?

Guess we will find out after the first few races.

They are echoing what we feared months ago.

I think the best we can hope for this season is an entertaining comedy of errors as the teams try to work out how to manage battery deployment.

[TheDeuce]

SpudLink said:

sb-1 said:

Anyone else worried about the comments coming from the drivers.Have these new regs ruin F1?

Guess we will find out after the first few races.

They are echoing what we feared months ago.

I think the best we can hope for this season is an entertaining comedy of errors as the teams try to work out how to manage battery deployment.

Indeed. There's a high chance that one team will be clearly dominant early on, but also a high chance of some absolute howlers limping through this season, fighting over second from last most weeks.

It'll be interesting and educational whatever happens. And I expect a fair few changes for 2027 based on whatever plays out this season.

I'm looking forward to it for now

[Sandpit Steve]

TheDeuce said:

paulguitar said:

MartG said:

Max's jet just arrived at Manchester Airport - I wonder where he's going

He might not be on it.

I imagine it's chartered by whoever in-between his use of it, as is normal.

Although who knows, maybe he's gone to shop at the Trafford Centre

Well quite, even on an F1 driver salary the cost of running a plane like that is horrific. He’ll have it available for charter while he’s in Australia, one of only a handful of races where he’ll fly commercial.

If you’re doing that trip, the commerical first class options are much better. Emirates and Etihad give you a private suite in 1st on their new planes.

[cirian75]

MartG said:

Max's jet just arrived at Manchester Airport - I wonder where he's going

My betting is a cheeky pre season double kodaba at the Rusholme chippy

[TheDeuce]

cirian75 said:

MartG said:

Max's jet just arrived at Manchester Airport - I wonder where he's going

My betting is a cheeky pre season double kodaba at the Rusholme chippy

....chippy?

[cirian75]

TheDeuce said:

cirian75 said:

MartG said:

Max's jet just arrived at Manchester Airport - I wonder where he's going

My betting is a cheeky pre season double kodaba at the Rusholme chippy

....chippy?

Yes

[732NM]

I can smell it from here, rank.

[paulguitar]

SpudLink said:

sb-1 said:

Anyone else worried about the comments coming from the drivers.Have these new regs ruin F1?

Guess we will find out after the first few races.

They are echoing what we feared months ago.

I think the best we can hope for this season is an entertaining comedy of errors as the teams try to work out how to manage battery deployment.

We have grandstand seats at Becketts for 2026. We are fully prepared to cancel the trip and sell the tickets if it turns out that these cars are coasting into corners to charge the battery for the following straight. What in the hell would be the point of paying to see that?

[TheDeuce]

cirian75 said:

Yes

Jesus

[Big Nanas]

paulguitar said:

SpudLink said:

sb-1 said:

Anyone else worried about the comments coming from the drivers.Have these new regs ruin F1?

Guess we will find out after the first few races.

They are echoing what we feared months ago.

I think the best we can hope for this season is an entertaining comedy of errors as the teams try to work out how to manage battery deployment.

We have grandstand seats at Becketts for 2026. We are fully prepared to cancel the trip and sell the tickets if it turns out that these cars are coasting into corners to charge the battery for the following straight. What in the hell would be the point of paying to see that?

Interesting you mention that. My friend's wife decided for her 50th she wanted to go to the British GP, and so tickets are booked for this year at Maggots (I think, it's one of those grandstands). Incredibly expensive.
They're both fans, but I don't think they're really paying much attention to these new regs and the potential issues.

It'll be their first GP in person, so I won't mention it, but I really hope they won't be disappointed.

[stemll]

paulguitar said:

We have grandstand seats at Becketts for 2026. We are fully prepared to cancel the trip and sell the tickets if it turns out that these cars are coasting into corners to charge the battery for the following straight. What in the hell would be the point of paying to see that?

I'll give you £5 for them so long as you cover the postage. I'll even admit for the days that the tickets are for, that the Beatles are almost as good as the Beach Brothers or the Righteous Boys

[TheDeuce]

paulguitar said:

We have grandstand seats at Becketts for 2026. We are fully prepared to cancel the trip and sell the tickets if it turns out that these cars are coasting into corners to charge the battery for the following straight. What in the hell would be the point of paying to see that?

You'll see the F2 cars attack the corners properly

[Siao]

Big Nanas said:

Interesting you mention that. My friend's wife decided for her 50th she wanted to go to the British GP, and so tickets are booked for this year at Maggots (I think, it's one of those grandstands). Incredibly expensive.
They're both fans, but I don't think they're really paying much attention to these new regs and the potential issues.

It'll be their first GP in person, so I won't mention it, but I really hope they won't be disappointed.

Imagine being your first time and you get these stty, blender-sounding, coasting cars barely faster than F2... I feel for her.

[Petrus1983]

I'm really concerned at this point. My excitement level before the first GP of the season is usually massively high. But this year it's laced with some dread. If it's as bad as some are saying I genuinely don't know how the FIA could have created such an awful rule book.

[mycool]

They let the manufacturers / teams have a say.

Most sports have a governing body that sets the rules and then the participants choose whether to take part.

[mogg]

Is it not mainly for the sake of political correctness, ie increase the electric component to 50 per cent ?!

[vaud]

mycool said:

They let the manufacturers / teams have a say.

They did. Audi would only join if the electric % was high.

What they should of done is gone for small, turbo/supercharged engines on sustainable fuel (with no limits on it being usable in road cars) and made them smaller and lighter.

[TheDeuce]

vaud said:

mycool said:

They let the manufacturers / teams have a say.

They did. Audi would only join if the electric % was high.

What they should of done is gone for small, turbo/supercharged engines on sustainable fuel (with no limits on it being usable in road cars) and made them smaller and lighter.

The manufacturers didn't want that. They've probably gone too far the other way as a result - this season will demonstrate that, if it's the case, and they'll likely step back from the 50% target in some way.

It's easy enough to understand why 50% was the target, it's a headline and suggests that the cars are as much about EV as they are about ICE, despite that being nonsense. The 50% they targeted probably is too much, but I can see why they went for it.