2026 F1 Cars - General Thread

[OxMontalvo]

I wonder if Racing Bulls have been given the task to push the PU to the limit and beyond, and this being the reason they have such a massive airbox at this moment. Especially now we’ve seen the RB22 and it’s compact design it doesn’t make a lot of sense that the VCARB 03 has to run this giant airbox.

A massive airbox allows them to decrease (or increase) the amount of cooling on a position of the car that is easy to reach and has less aerodynamic influence than fiddling with the sidepods.

I’d assume they want to see how far they can push the PU with different cooling gap sizes and find its sweet spot.

[AR3-GP]

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[TeamKoolGreen]

The narrative was that these new cars are going to ride nice and high and nice and spongy suspension and be great for the drivers. The reality is, F1 cars were always stiff and low. And maybe the ride control of the previous gen car was the reason for the ride. And not just the venturi floor.

https://i.postimg.cc/0NqrxX7h/Screenshot-4878.png

I'm pretty sure the narrative wasnt that theyre going to ride high, but that they'd no longer not work if not slammed to the ground, hence despite your screen shot of a car low down at higher speed, we also see them with significantly more rake while at lower speeds or while braking.

Either way, the narrative is that these new cars are going to ride better and make drivers more comfortable. But the people pushing this were Toto Wolf, who couldn't figure out venturi floors. So I am not convinced. A stiff and low car is always going to be the fastest. When George Russell first voiced his concern about the ride, the main thing he was lobbing for was getting some kind of ride control back. Not scrapping venturi floors.

And judging by the pics of his car, somehow I doubt he's going to be bragging about how nice the ride is. But we'll see.

For those who missed the pic from the previous page

[TeamKoolGreen]

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Yeah of course. Its in a corner at speed. And it is right canned and looks no different in a corner than the 2022 car did.

Here's the bib

[PlatinumZealot]

https://x.com/SoyMotor/status/2015820403986280935

SoyMotor.com
@SoyMotor
ACTUALIZACIÓN DE TIEMPOS

1⃣ Hadjar - 1'18''452
2⃣ Russell - 1'18''696
3⃣ Colapinto - 1'20''189
4⃣ Antonelli - 1'20''700
5⃣ Lawson - 1'21''513
6⃣ Ocon - 1'22''920
7⃣ Bottas - 1'24''651
8⃣ Bortoleto - 1'25''296
9⃣ Pérez - Sin Tiempo

#F1 #F1Testing

Some people had access to the Barcelona timing server earlier today, but I think they blocked it now...

Call me hater and I have respect for Hadjar but I hope the RedBull engine is slow i want to see other teams at the top and them struggle to figh their way back.

[FW17]

I think these cars will be in 2016 range of lap times

Pole in 2016 was 1:22 with the chicane, 6 seconds adjusted to it is a 1:16
They are running 1:18, corrected for cold it is 1:17 (faster than 2015) and not in qualifying mode, it is a very good start.


other observations from the race:

One of the more interesting visual aspects that was very noticeable - even from a distance - was how much the rear derating warning lights flash with the new generation of cars.

The light comes on when cars are either harvesting energy or not running on full power, and acts as a warning to those behind about potential big closing speeds.

While in the past the lights would only be noticeable in certain sections of tracks, or even isolated phases of a race, watching cars around a lap at Barcelona showed the lights were on pretty much all the time. It was quite rare for cars not to have to have them flashing.
Through the high-speed Turn 3 they were on, they remained on down the run from Turn 5 to Turn 7, and you could spot the cars still flashing up the hill into the Turn 9 right-hander. The outcome is no real surprise considering how energy-starved the 2026 cars are expected to be.

[Chuckjr]

Really disappointed Williams are not participating. They have been planning and setting aside development for 2026 for years now. In fact, 2025 development was held to prep for 2026. Did they really fail their crash test 3 times?

[101FlyingDutchman]

I wonder if Racing Bulls have been given the task to push the PU to the limit and beyond, and this being the reason they have such a massive airbox at this moment. Especially now we’ve seen the RB22 and it’s compact design it doesn’t make a lot of sense that the VCARB 03 has to run this giant airbox.

A massive airbox allows them to decrease (or increase) the amount of cooling on a position of the car that is easy to reach and has less aerodynamic influence than fiddling with the sidepods.

I’d assume they want to see how far they can push the PU with different cooling gap sizes and find its sweet spot.

It’s likely yes.
Maybe a difference in cooling approach too. Not sure if W2A exchangers have a smaller footprint than A2A. As far as I know Redbull have mostly run with A2A heat exchangers because of weight savings I believe. But perhaps it’s easier this year to make weight (note that most of the teams are already at the low limit) hence there may be packaging advantages by going W2A

[TheRacingElf]

The narrative was that these new cars are going to ride nice and high and nice and spongy suspension and be great for the drivers. The reality is, F1 cars were always stiff and low. And maybe the ride control of the previous gen car was the reason for the ride. And not just the venturi floor.

https://i.postimg.cc/0NqrxX7h/Screenshot-4878.png

I'm pretty sure the narrative wasnt that theyre going to ride high, but that they'd no longer not work if not slammed to the ground, hence despite your screen shot of a car low down at higher speed, we also see them with significantly more rake while at lower speeds or while braking.

Either way, the narrative is that these new cars are going to ride better and make drivers more comfortable. But the people pushing this were Toto Wolf, who couldn't figure out venturi floors. So I am not convinced. A stiff and low car is always going to be the fastest. When George Russell first voiced his concern about the ride, the main thing he was lobbing for was getting some kind of ride control back. Not scrapping venturi floors.

And judging by the pics of his car, somehow I doubt he's going to be bragging about how nice the ride is. But we'll see.

For those who missed the pic from the previous page

https://i.postimg.cc/0NqrxX7h/Screenshot-4878.png

I don't get what you mean...
The ground effect cars were slammed to the ground and sparking away going into turn 9, the photo you posted of this years car shows the opposite with actually quite a bit of ground clearance.

[Seanspeed]

I think these cars will be in 2016 range of lap times

Pole in 2016 was 1:22 with the chicane, 6 seconds adjusted to it is a 1:16
They are running 1:18, corrected for cold it is 1:17 (faster than 2015) and not in qualifying mode, it is a very good start.


other observations from the race:

One of the more interesting visual aspects that was very noticeable - even from a distance - was how much the rear derating warning lights flash with the new generation of cars.

The light comes on when cars are either harvesting energy or not running on full power, and acts as a warning to those behind about potential big closing speeds.

While in the past the lights would only be noticeable in certain sections of tracks, or even isolated phases of a race, watching cars around a lap at Barcelona showed the lights were on pretty much all the time. It was quite rare for cars not to have to have them flashing.
Through the high-speed Turn 3 they were on, they remained on down the run from Turn 5 to Turn 7, and you could spot the cars still flashing up the hill into the Turn 9 right-hander. The outcome is no real surprise considering how energy-starved the 2026 cars are expected to be.

This is gonna have to change if true. That's gonna be so distracting watching live.

[ScottB]

I think these cars will be in 2016 range of lap times

Pole in 2016 was 1:22 with the chicane, 6 seconds adjusted to it is a 1:16
They are running 1:18, corrected for cold it is 1:17 (faster than 2015) and not in qualifying mode, it is a very good start.


other observations from the race:

One of the more interesting visual aspects that was very noticeable - even from a distance - was how much the rear derating warning lights flash with the new generation of cars.

The light comes on when cars are either harvesting energy or not running on full power, and acts as a warning to those behind about potential big closing speeds.

While in the past the lights would only be noticeable in certain sections of tracks, or even isolated phases of a race, watching cars around a lap at Barcelona showed the lights were on pretty much all the time. It was quite rare for cars not to have to have them flashing.
Through the high-speed Turn 3 they were on, they remained on down the run from Turn 5 to Turn 7, and you could spot the cars still flashing up the hill into the Turn 9 right-hander. The outcome is no real surprise considering how energy-starved the 2026 cars are expected to be.

This is gonna have to change if true. That's gonna be so distracting watching live.

Was thinking that! Depends how clear it is, but constant flashing lights aint great, for anyone, never mind people watching with epilepsy etc

[kHz33]

Something I'm genuinely curious about, is why a very large portion of this forum seems to think that teams are trying to fool the other teams with "temporary bodywork" and "oversimplified cars" when teams have 6 days of running available, they'd be stupid not to use all of the available time to actually get useful data about their cars and see if they can squeeze in a larger upgrade package based on the data gathered by the time Melbourne comes up. I heavily disagree with this sentiment being touted in every single car thread so far. Teams just don't have the resources anymore with the cost cap in place especially to do things like that. B-spec cars might exist, we'll most likely see them in Bahrain if any team has a B-spec in development.

[ScottB]

Something I'm genuinely curious about, is why a very large portion of this forum seems to think that teams are trying to fool the other teams with "temporary bodywork" and "oversimplified cars" when teams have 6 days of running available, they'd be stupid not to use all of the available time to actually get useful data about their cars and see if they can squeeze in a larger upgrade package based on the data gathered by the time Melbourne comes up. I heavily disagree with this sentiment being touted in every single car thread so far. Teams just don't have the resources anymore with the cost cap in place especially to do things like that. B-spec cars might exist, we'll most likely see them in Bahrain if any team has a B-spec in development.

I think it's more likely different generations of part, eg what we see now would have been signed off months ago, what will be ready in time for the Bahrain tests is a further iteration, what will be ready for Australia even further ahead / maybe only just being signed off now. We saw teams make multiple rounds of new sidepods, wings etc in recent years, under the cap.

When we've had comments from Mclaren about how easy it is to find time in the new regs versus the end of the previous set, makes sense that the teams are still full on developing as they go. Not sure it's that they have lots of additional parts they are holding back that are otherwise fully ready to go on the car, as such.

Unless it's establishing a safe baseline, eg in terms of cooling, then trying out riskier ideas once you've got the running needed on your mechanical package etc.

[chlebekf1]

Something I'm genuinely curious about, is why a very large portion of this forum seems to think that teams are trying to fool the other teams with "temporary bodywork" and "oversimplified cars" when teams have 6 days of running available, they'd be stupid not to use all of the available time to actually get useful data about their cars and see if they can squeeze in a larger upgrade package based on the data gathered by the time Melbourne comes up. I heavily disagree with this sentiment being touted in every single car thread so far. Teams just don't have the resources anymore with the cost cap in place especially to do things like that. B-spec cars might exist, we'll most likely see them in Bahrain if any team has a B-spec in development.

Mod edit:
I think that you are wrong, but I think that there is no point in convincing you otherwise

[kHz33]

Something I'm genuinely curious about, is why a very large portion of this forum seems to think that teams are trying to fool the other teams with "temporary bodywork" and "oversimplified cars" when teams have 6 days of running available, they'd be stupid not to use all of the available time to actually get useful data about their cars and see if they can squeeze in a larger upgrade package based on the data gathered by the time Melbourne comes up. I heavily disagree with this sentiment being touted in every single car thread so far. Teams just don't have the resources anymore with the cost cap in place especially to do things like that. B-spec cars might exist, we'll most likely see them in Bahrain if any team has a B-spec in development.

you are wrong, but there is no point in convincing you otherwise

I asked a general question I'm curious about, not sure why you feel the need to get personal, but you do you, pal...