2026 Drama: Alleged engine loophole

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f1isgood
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Re: 2026 Drama: Alleged engine loophole

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AR3-GP wrote:
11 Feb 2026, 10:41
Lasssept wrote:
11 Feb 2026, 10:39
Fork found in fork factory? :lol:
From the article:

"First of all, they have to come up with a regulation, and good luck with them, where you're testing power units in the conditions you're trying to run on track. Anyone that knows anything about compression ratios, even if you've done your own cars, you kind of want to do it when it's ambient."

“I'm sure they can determine a way of testing it, but the next element is that there are now two more steps. One: are we compliant even with any future regulation changes? No one knows that one particularly. And the second element of things is what do you do when you have effectively changed the rules? That now means that if we are not legal to it, that there are eight cars not participating on the grid. And that's what I meant by we, as a sport, have to really think about what the implication of this change is.”
The FIA folds on a royal flush.

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Sergej
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Re: 2026 Drama: Alleged engine loophole

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wow, he's basically saying "if you change testing procedure we won't pass it" isn't he ? :lol:

McFAN
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Re: 2026 Drama: Alleged engine loophole

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Sergej wrote:
11 Feb 2026, 10:55
wow, he's basically saying "if you change testing procedure we won't pass it" isn't he ? :lol:
He's not beating about the bush is he ? :shock: :D

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AR3-GP
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Re: 2026 Drama: Alleged engine loophole

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The cat has been let out of the bag. Mercedes is above 16:1.
Beware of T-Rex

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FrukostScones
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Re: 2026 Drama: Alleged engine loophole

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AR3-GP wrote:
11 Feb 2026, 11:05
The cat has been let out of the bag. Mercedes is above 16:1.
cold?
"I ain't with the FIFA, I'm in Tokyo." LH

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AR3-GP
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Re: 2026 Drama: Alleged engine loophole

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FrukostScones wrote:
11 Feb 2026, 11:09
AR3-GP wrote:
11 Feb 2026, 11:05
The cat has been let out of the bag. Mercedes is above 16:1.
cold?
hot
Beware of T-Rex

McFAN
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Re: 2026 Drama: Alleged engine loophole

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FrukostScones wrote:
11 Feb 2026, 11:09
AR3-GP wrote:
11 Feb 2026, 11:05
The cat has been let out of the bag. Mercedes is above 16:1.
cold?
When running, Vowles basically admitting as much :wink:
We don't actually know obviously

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AR3-GP
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Re: 2026 Drama: Alleged engine loophole

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“My harsh line on it is the PU that we have in the car is completely compliant with the regulations. It is not a month of work but several years of work to produce the PU to that level. We, as a sport, have to take care that this is not a BOP series. This is a meritocracy where the best engineering outcome effectively gets rewarded as a result, not punished as a result,” Vowles told media, including Motorsport.com.
It's a bit rich whining about meritocracy of F1 when his team is benefitting from extra windtunnel hours and extra CFD runs...
Beware of T-Rex

McFAN
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Re: 2026 Drama: Alleged engine loophole

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AR3-GP wrote:
11 Feb 2026, 11:21
“My harsh line on it is the PU that we have in the car is completely compliant with the regulations. It is not a month of work but several years of work to produce the PU to that level. We, as a sport, have to take care that this is not a BOP series. This is a meritocracy where the best engineering outcome effectively gets rewarded as a result, not punished as a result,” Vowles told media, including Motorsport.com.
It's a bit rich whining about meritocracy of F1 when his team is benefitting from extra windtunnel hours and extra CFD runs...
Quite :D

Martin Keene
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Re: 2026 Drama: Alleged engine loophole

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AR3-GP wrote:
11 Feb 2026, 11:11
FrukostScones wrote:
11 Feb 2026, 11:09
AR3-GP wrote:
11 Feb 2026, 11:05
The cat has been let out of the bag. Mercedes is above 16:1.
cold?
hot
Which IMO is fine, the rules state the compression ratio is 16:1 at ambient temperature. The compression ratio when at operating temperature will always be different.

If the other teams have designed engines to be 16:1 when hot, then that is on them.

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AR3-GP
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Re: 2026 Drama: Alleged engine loophole

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Martin Keene wrote:
11 Feb 2026, 11:27
Which IMO is fine, the rules state the compression ratio is 16:1 at ambient temperature.
The regulations only made note of "ambient" after a curious amendment to the regulations dated October of 2025. So one would have to ask how Mercedes could have developed a new engine between October and January.
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Martin Keene
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Re: 2026 Drama: Alleged engine loophole

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Ish, do we know appendix in the sporting and technical regs said about how that ratio would be determined, I have not seen that

richardn
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Re: 2026 Drama: Alleged engine loophole

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People up thread were talking about measuring the cylinder pressure while racing. That's actually outlawed...

No sensor of any kind, designed or installed to measure or infer internal cylinder pressure,
temperature, or to determine the heat release characteristics will be permitted, with the exception
of:
• the standard Knock Sensors permitted by Article C5.15.11 with standard signal
processing by the FIA Standard ECU.
• The engine crankshaft speed sensors connected to the FIA Standard ECU, for the sole
purpose of detecting misfire, and subject to FIA approval of the associated software.
Any other sensor which is incidentally capable of measuring or inferring internal cylinder pressure,
temperature, or determining the heat release characteristics must have an attenuation of no less
than 40dB above 1kHz at any point in the measurement chain and will be subject to the
homologation required by Article 8.
Exceptionally, each Power Unit may be fitted with up to six internal cylinder pressure sensors during
pre-season TCC days, but only if the Power Unit used is supplied by a PU Manufacturer who is in its
first year of supplying Power Units compliant with those Regulations. These sensors must not be
used for control purposes.

PS Seems to me, that the FIA could have completely removed the controversy by specifying a sensor that encrypts the readings that goes in the slot on race days but giving the teams an unencrypted sensor for pre-season testing. Currently the teams install a "pressure sensor replacement" when there is no pressure sensor.

koolway
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Re: 2026 Drama: Alleged engine loophole

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Martin Keene wrote:
11 Feb 2026, 11:31
Ish, do we know appendix in the sporting and technical regs said about how that ratio would be determined, I have not seen that
It's been posted in every other page in this thread I think. But a reminder never hurts :D

https://api.fia.com/system/files/docume ... -10-16.pdf
"C5.4.3 - No cylinder of the engine may have a geometric compression ratio higher than 16.0. The procedure which will be used to determine this value may be found in the document FIA-F1-DOC-C042 and executed at ambient temperature."

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FrukostScones
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Re: 2026 Drama: Alleged engine loophole

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but that doc is not public
"I ain't with the FIFA, I'm in Tokyo." LH