The Official F1 2026 silly season *contains speculation*
Discussion
mycool said:
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.
It has become a billionaire's glee club. Most sports have a governing body that sets the rules and then the participants choose whether to take part.
Previously there was only one billionaire and everyone had to fight for titbits.
Total recipe for disaster.
TheDeuce said:
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 
paulguitar said:
TheDeuce said:
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 I'm sure the atmosphere will still be good, and the cars won't be unimpressive - even if the new format does compromise how impressive they could be. At the end of the day, you're paying to be there and witness first hand whatever unfolds, be it drama or a dull race, that's always been the case.
The cost to attend these days is crazy money, I do appreciate the concern/frustration. It will at least be interesting to hear your first hand account of what it's like in the stands vs previous years - unless you cave and sell the tickets! I suppose we all have to wait another 1.5 weeks to see what's what.
TheDeuce said:
paulguitar said:
TheDeuce said:
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 I'm sure the atmosphere will still be good, and the cars won't be unimpressive - even if the new format does compromise how impressive they could be. At the end of the day, you're paying to be there and witness first hand whatever unfolds, be it drama or a dull race, that's always been the case.
The cost to attend these days is crazy money, I do appreciate the concern/frustration. It will at least be interesting to hear your first hand account of what it's like in the stands vs previous years - unless you cave and sell the tickets! I suppose we all have to wait another 1.5 weeks to see what's what.
paulguitar said:
TheDeuce said:
paulguitar said:
TheDeuce said:
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 I'm sure the atmosphere will still be good, and the cars won't be unimpressive - even if the new format does compromise how impressive they could be. At the end of the day, you're paying to be there and witness first hand whatever unfolds, be it drama or a dull race, that's always been the case.
The cost to attend these days is crazy money, I do appreciate the concern/frustration. It will at least be interesting to hear your first hand account of what it's like in the stands vs previous years - unless you cave and sell the tickets! I suppose we all have to wait another 1.5 weeks to see what's what.
As for £700 for Silverstone vs a proper dinner and piss up... For years now I have struggled to equate the experience of being at a GP weekend with the cost! It's an amazing thing to do, but there are other amazing things a group can do for the same money (and watch the race from home...)
It's the 'why go out for a burger when you can have steak at home' argument. Is it worth paying thousands to go to Silverstone vs watching at home, with family and friends, and filling the fridge with steak, caviar, champagne for fraction of the cost? Over the last decade ticket prices have rocketed and there's no way that the cost is now not a major detracting factor, however good the 'in person' experience may prove to be.
I'd be tempted to skip this year unless Melbourne proves everyone wrong. If it's a dud this year, the tickets may be a little cheaper next season and also the specs may well be tweaked to bring about an improvement...
Just removing the MGU-H and keeping the energy split at 80/20 would have been a massive step to make.
Going for 50/50 was insane, and was said to be so years ago, removing the MGU-H whilst doing it was even nuttier.
They will do all they can to bring this up to 60/40 by playing with the rules this year, the cars will still be s
t, but they might be able to look like some form of racing car in the process.
I sincerely hope they can race, even if they look like they are cruising, the fast flowing circuits are where they will perform the worst, so Silverstone is likely a stshow if you want to see a very fast car driven very fast. The day to go will be qualifying, the one chance they will have to put a fast lap together.
Going for 50/50 was insane, and was said to be so years ago, removing the MGU-H whilst doing it was even nuttier.
They will do all they can to bring this up to 60/40 by playing with the rules this year, the cars will still be s
t, but they might be able to look like some form of racing car in the process.I sincerely hope they can race, even if they look like they are cruising, the fast flowing circuits are where they will perform the worst, so Silverstone is likely a s
tshow if you want to see a very fast car driven very fast. The day to go will be qualifying, the one chance they will have to put a fast lap together.thegreenhell said:
Surely they'll only be able to do that by reducing the electrical power, and hence less powerful overall? Getting more power from the ICE to compensate at this stage will be tricky.
They could change the harvesting limits and they could alter the ramp rate of the energy deployment. It will be a bandage on a gaping wound, but might help get through the year before the cars can be redesigned for larger fuel cells.
732NM said:
thegreenhell said:
Surely they'll only be able to do that by reducing the electrical power, and hence less powerful overall? Getting more power from the ICE to compensate at this stage will be tricky.
They could change the harvesting limits and they could alter the ramp rate of the energy deployment. It will be a bandage on a gaping wound, but might help get through the year before the cars can be redesigned for larger fuel cells.And/or a far bigger ES so they can at least do a couple of fast laps in a row, but then the ES would be too big and heavy for what the cars were designed for.
They've done a proper job of cementing the s
t sandwich this time 
thegreenhell said:
Surely they'll only be able to do that by reducing the electrical power, and hence less powerful overall? Getting more power from the ICE to compensate at this stage will be tricky.
Getting more power from the ICE will be very tricky, because they are fuel flow limited, or more specifically for this year, energy flow limited, so it would be very surprising if any of the teams have a surplus of fuel (energy) storage in the cars over what the rules state at this minute, so increasing energy flow is likely to have no effect.Megaflow said:
Getting more power from the ICE will be very tricky, because they are fuel flow limited, or more specifically for this year, energy flow limited, so it would be very surprising if any of the teams have a surplus of fuel (energy) storage in the cars over what the rules state at this minute, so increasing energy flow is likely to have no effect.
Unless behind the scenes the teams were told to design in 20% more fuel capacity if the regs turn out to be dogst.We'll find out soon where they are with these cars.
Megaflow said:
thegreenhell said:
Surely they'll only be able to do that by reducing the electrical power, and hence less powerful overall? Getting more power from the ICE to compensate at this stage will be tricky.
Getting more power from the ICE will be very tricky, because they are fuel flow limited, or more specifically for this year, energy flow limited, so it would be very surprising if any of the teams have a surplus of fuel (energy) storage in the cars over what the rules state at this minute, so increasing energy flow is likely to have no effect.732NM said:
I sincerely hope they can race, even if they look like they are cruising, the fast flowing circuits are where they will perform the worst, so Silverstone is likely a stshow if you want to see a very fast car driven very fast. The day to go will be qualifying, the one chance they will have to put a fast lap together.
During the last generation of cars everyone was complaining about the lack of overtaking, not how fast the cars were going. tshow if you want to see a very fast car driven very fast. The day to go will be qualifying, the one chance they will have to put a fast lap together.I'm more positive it will be better thisa year, certainly in testing the cars seemed to be moving about more in the corners (unsuprisingly with less downforce and more elctrical power)
I'm not convinced we'll notice any significant differance with the regen into corners.
732NM said:
They could change the harvesting limits and they could alter the ramp rate of the energy deployment. It will be a bandage on a gaping wound, but might help get through the year before the cars can be redesigned for larger fuel cells.
Fuels cells are already larger than previous hybrid era as the ICE engine speed has to be over revved to keep the battery charged up enough marine boy said:
732NM said:
They could change the harvesting limits and they could alter the ramp rate of the energy deployment. It will be a bandage on a gaping wound, but might help get through the year before the cars can be redesigned for larger fuel cells.
Fuels cells are already larger than previous hybrid era as the ICE engine speed has to be over revved to keep the battery charged up enough Gassing Station | Formula 1 | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff