2026 Scuderia Ferrari HP F1 Team

[LM10]

There is nuance is what I am saying, but you don't want to hear it.

I didn't say Ferrari "rightfully lost". I said that if a concept collapses because of a Technical Directive, then the car operating in a gray area because Technical Directives typically "clarify" existing rules and the way in which they should be interpreted/are enforced. If enforcing the same rule in a different way kills performance, then that means the concept was simply fragile as it depended on small tolerances. That is simply not good enough from an engineering point of view--- that's all there is. I already said that they should have been allowed to run it for the entire season (which you ignored in a nuanced manner of course) but once the flexi floor topic came through, the concept was done for. It's the beginning of a four year cycle and Ferrari let themselves get hamstrung 12.5 percent of the way in.

You can call what others do as cheating. In the end, there were stricter wing tests last season at Barcelone and McLaren only went onto the sweep the entire European round after that pretty much. That means their concept by itself was not overly reliant on the flexi wings alone. They of course benefited from exploting it but that didn't break their car concept as is. You can make an argument that they had time to fix it or whatever but I can only go off what I see.

Regarding 2024, I think they should have been DSQ'ed for Baku but then that was not part of my original post so not sure why you are going there.

The evidence we have -- it tells us that the 2022 car had limited development potential under tighter enforcement of rules. It was a dead-end.

You have no idea what you’re taking about.

[S D]

Has anyone noticed that there are now numerous videos on YouTube that say that Ferrari is the leader? I'm wondering if all the British content creators (they all seem to have British accents) are making these claims to push public opinion towards changing the start grid regs and to also allow Merc to keep their engine compression ratio trick. Or is it legitimate? Is this disinformation we are seeing?

[f1316]

How do you know about the chassis, do you have any source?

Autoracer

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Interesting - hadn’t realised they already brought the light chassis. If so, will be curious to see if this already constitutes their B spec (new chassis, FW, floor and diffuser is a pretty substantial upgrade) or if there’s more to come eg sidepods etc. The most important is probably energy mgmt anyway - I get the impression that the biggest thing for Ferrari is how they put the power down as this seems to be the biggest cause of instability.

[sucof]

How do you know about the chassis, do you have any source?

Autoracer

Share the link

Sorry but a "please" would have been nicer and better. Also, he already replied to me with the name of the source. I was able with my bare hands put it in to google and navigate there to find the article.

[sucof]

Has anyone noticed that there are now numerous videos on YouTube that say that Ferrari is the leader? I'm wondering if all the British content creators (they all seem to have British accents) are making these claims to push public opinion towards changing the start grid regs and to also allow Merc to keep their engine compression ratio trick. Or is it legitimate? Is this disinformation we are seeing?

I would not go that far with conspiracy theories
People are just people, including vloggers, they have zero connection to Mercedes, neither do they conspire to change the public opinion, neither the public opinion matters anyway.

[bluechris]

Has anyone noticed that there are now numerous videos on YouTube that say that Ferrari is the leader? I'm wondering if all the British content creators (they all seem to have British accents) are making these claims to push public opinion towards changing the start grid regs and to also allow Merc to keep their engine compression ratio trick. Or is it legitimate? Is this disinformation we are seeing?

I would not go that far with conspiracy theories
People are just people, including vloggers, they have zero connection to Mercedes, neither do they conspire to change the public opinion, neither the public opinion matters anyway.

The Dark Side is sweet and my apprentice, Darth Toto knows all the tricks

[edu2703]

Has anyone noticed that there are now numerous videos on YouTube that say that Ferrari is the leader? I'm wondering if all the British content creators (they all seem to have British accents) are making these claims to push public opinion towards changing the start grid regs and to also allow Merc to keep their engine compression ratio trick. Or is it legitimate? Is this disinformation we are seeing?

I wouldn't delve into that conspiracy theory. Looking at other F1 forums and chat groups, I see a majority opinion that Mercedes is sandbagging a lot and is clearly ahead.

Toto would have to spend a lot of money to divert attention from them.

[S D]

Has anyone noticed that there are now numerous videos on YouTube that say that Ferrari is the leader? I'm wondering if all the British content creators (they all seem to have British accents) are making these claims to push public opinion towards changing the start grid regs and to also allow Merc to keep their engine compression ratio trick. Or is it legitimate? Is this disinformation we are seeing?

I would not go that far with conspiracy theories
People are just people, including vloggers, they have zero connection to Mercedes, neither do they conspire to change the public opinion, neither the public opinion matters anyway.

It was just a thought. Although, it doesn't have to be a conspiracy, which requires a coordinated effort between two or more parties. However it can be individuals putting ideas out into the ether.

I do believe that public opinion helps, if the public doesn't like the decision, this effects the bottom line of the product. This also makes journalists take note as well.

[upsidedowntoast]

I personally think it's a combination of 2 things:

1. Ferrari genuinely have had great tests throughout Barcelona and Bahrain. Mercedes meanwhile struggled in Bahrain, they lost 1.5 days and did the second fewest laps due to suspension/balance/engine issues. Whereas Ferrari have had literally zero issues the entire time.

2. Content creators need to make new content in order to get clicks. It's more profitable to say "Merc is leading" one day, "Ferrari is leading" the next, because that's different. If they just said the same team is leading the whole time through why would anyone care to read the second, third, fourth article on the subject?

[johnnycesup]

I can't understand how anybody can really think Ferrari is the best after a test where the fastest lap was Mercedes by more than half a second, and in the race simulations the Mercedes was faster by a significant margin as well. The only thing Ferrari did clearly better than Merc was total distance.

It can only be engagement farming, or some way to pretend later that Ferrari has fumbled something and make some stupid joke.

[ScuderiaLeo]

It's just classic engagement farming. Not even worth a discussion. Last week Mercedes were the favorites, now Ferrari, next week it'll be McLaren or Red Bull.

[dialtone]

What McLaren just showed in the 2nd test has rivals spinning. We explain what it is.

[upsidedowntoast]

I can't understand how anybody can really think Ferrari is the best after a test where the fastest lap was Mercedes by more than half a second, and in the race simulations the Mercedes was faster by a significant margin as well. The only thing Ferrari did clearly better than Merc was total distance.

It can only be engagement farming, or some way to pretend later that Ferrari has fumbled something and make some stupid joke.

Didn't Leclerc have a much better race sim (something like 28s) than either Russell or Antonelli on day 2? I find that much more important than a single fastest lap test. Yes yes there's the sandbagging accusations but we still don't know if the compression ratio trick will get banned or not. Not to mention the start procedure drama.

I think Ferrari looks to be in a very solid position.

[jambuka]

Fresh PU for Bahrain Test 2

[f1316]

I can't understand how anybody can really think Ferrari is the best after a test where the fastest lap was Mercedes by more than half a second, and in the race simulations the Mercedes was faster by a significant margin as well. The only thing Ferrari did clearly better than Merc was total distance.

It can only be engagement farming, or some way to pretend later that Ferrari has fumbled something and make some stupid joke.

Didn't Leclerc have a much better race sim (something like 28s) than either Russell or Antonelli on day 2? I find that much more important than a single fastest lap test. Yes yes there's the sandbagging accusations but we still don't know if the compression ratio trick will get banned or not. Not to mention the start procedure drama.

I think Ferrari looks to be in a very solid position.

Yes - also the comparison between Kimi’s and Hamilton’s is false due to very different time of day. Lewis and George set fast laps close together and the Mercedes was just under 3 tenths quicker - it’s still faster but the gap wasn’t half a second and it could be explained lots of ways. Likewise, the Mercedes could be massively sandbagging and the real gap is even bigger but from the small amount of info we have, on the face of it it’s not a .5 gap.