2026 Australian Grand Prix - Melbourne, March 06 - 08

[upsidedowntoast]

If Russell has any shred of self-respect or credibility, he should sincerely apologise for accusing Red Bull of sandbagging , when Mercedes were obviously doing it the whole time.

I mean they *were* sandbagging a little. RB seemed 4th fastest in testing but they look to be 2nd fastest in reality (caveat: this is only first qualifying we need to check out first six races blah blah blah).

Whereas Merc was fastest in testing on *race pace* (yes, Ferrari set fastest single lap, but Merc was ahead by a few tenths if you look at medians of longer stints). They never pretended they were 4th fastest at any point; everyone just underestimated how far ahead they'd be in Q3.

[Gillian]

Mercedes is much faster on all corners

Yep there was more in it I'd say. Mercedes is superior in every way.

[upsidedowntoast]

Wow, they fx¾{#ed formula 1 good, didn't they.


Can always rely on muricans to mess things up royally, can't you.

Dude, this wasn't the Americans, this was lobbying from the EU greens + frankensteining from the engine manufacturers. They could have:

- told the engine manufacturers to go pound sand and reduced the electrical component to 30% instead of 50% (they could still do that by increasing the fuel flow rate or something similar for 2027)
- told audi to go pound sand and keep mguH (make it a spec part if you're that worried about cost)
- told mercedes to go pound sand and allow front axle regen

The Americans have no PU makers currently in F1. They're the last people who are responsible for this mess.

At the very least, people will be spared the neverending annoying whines of Mr. Whine-a-lot.

He was out in the wall in Q1 though.

That was Kimi not George

No, Kimi was in the wall in FP3. Max was the one in the wall in Q1.

[JordanMugen]

is there anything that can be done during the season, though, or even during this rule cycle? I mean, of course they could reduce the impact of electrical power, but wouldn't the cars just be super slow then?

Super slow in lap time, but who cares? It is only corner speed that comes across to spectators and television viewers.

Desinging the regulations around laptime instead of cornering speed appears to have been unwise. Though low downforce cars that slide around is not a problem in itself, it's the unracey behaviour of not pushing in fast corners and superclipping.

Potentially dropping to 700hp or 800hp total output by reducing electrical power and reducing electrical regeneration could therefore help make the cars behave more like "normal" ICE racing cars?

[Badger]

is there anything that can be done during the season, though, or even during this rule cycle? I mean, of course they could reduce the impact of electrical power, but wouldn't the cars just be super slow then?

Super slow in lap time, but who cares? It is only corner speed that comes across to spectators and television viewers.

Desinging the regulations around laptime instead of cornering speed appears to have been unwise. Though low downforce cars that slide around is not a problem in itself, it's the unracey behaviour of not pushing in fast corners and superclipping.

Potentially dropping to 700hp or 800hp total output by reducing electrical power and reducing electrical regeneration could therefore help make the cars behave more like "normal" ICE racing cars?

It's just surreal that these discussions are already necessary after one competitive session. Here's what they need to make the most out of this abomination.

1. Reduce peak deployment from 350 kW to 200 kW.
2. Maintain peak harvesting at 350 kW.
3. Reduce maximum energy harvest per lap from 8-9 MJ to 6-7 MJ depending on the circuit.
4. Tell Toto to withdraw if he has a problem with it.

This would result in slower overall lap times but with more pushing in the corners and less harvesting/clipping. Lap times would still be sufficiently quick and it would look like F1. The low power is compensated through SLM.

[Xero]

The drivers and broadcasters have clearly been told not to highlight the issues surrounding these new regulations, that's blatantly obvious.

I've had a lot of time to reflect since qualifying, and I'm pretty disheartened. This is my 30th season watching F1, and Qualifying was always the peak of the F1 weekend for me. That did not feel like a Qualifying session. The splits were vague and lost their meaning, laptimes didn't feel representative and difficult to gauge, and the superclipping was sickening to watch. It was completely devoid of the usual excitement. I'm trying to separate the competitive gulf that exists from the argument and purely focus on the show. This was all evident before Q3.

There is of course a chance the racing aspect will compensate, but if the racing side of things doesn't improve then this could be a painful season to watch. Fingers crossed for tomorrow.

[AR3-GP]

Many cars stopped on track in the free practice sessions. I think we could see a lot of VSC tomorrow.

[Sevach]

Wow, they fx¾{#ed formula 1 good, didn't they.


Can always rely on muricans to mess things up royally, can't you.

Dude, this wasn't the Americans, this was lobbying from the EU greens + frankensteining from the engine manufacturers. They could have:

- told the engine manufacturers to go pound sand and reduced the electrical component to 30% instead of 50% (they could still do that by increasing the fuel flow rate or something similar for 2027)
- told audi to go pound sand and keep mguH (make it a spec part if you're that worried about cost)
- told mercedes to go pound sand and allow front axle regen

The Americans have no PU makers currently in F1. They're the last people who are responsible for this mess.

If there's one thing i'm absolutely sure is that americans would be happy with low tech, high displacement V8s.

The current rule set is aimed to please European car makers, specially the German ones, Audi, Porsche, Mercedes...
Honda also seemed to like it despite the fact that they stink.

If anything, if audiences begin to turn away, you can count on the americans to draw up a storm to get things fixed right away.

[search]

Tires left for tomorrow - although it doesn't really seem to matter much:



Ferrari's used mediums are 6-8 laps old.

[venkyhere]

The drivers and broadcasters have clearly been told not to highlight the issues surrounding these new regulations, that's blatantly obvious.

I've had a lot of time to reflect since qualifying, and I'm pretty disheartened. This is my 30th season watching F1, and Qualifying was always the peak of the F1 weekend for me. That did not feel like a Qualifying session. The splits were vague and lost their meaning, laptimes didn't feel representative and difficult to gauge, and the superclipping was sickening to watch. It was completely devoid of the usual excitement. I'm trying to separate the competitive gulf that exists from the argument and purely focus on the show. This was all evident before Q3.

There is of course a chance the racing aspect will compensate, but if the racing side of things doesn't improve then this could be a painful season to watch. Fingers crossed for tomorrow.

Echo your thoughts. It's been 20+ yrs for me.
With things like cost-cap and wind-tunnel allocation slots in inverse order of championship position, I lulled myself into believing that finally the days of 'cart-pulling-the-horse' situation with 'the formula' definition were over. But alas, these regulations have once again proven that 'teams' still hold sway in defining which direction the formula should go.
I personally enjoy two things about my F1 watching experience :
(i) seeing the drivers absolutely pushing to the limits of grip in the high speed long corners & end of straight braking, and how this changes when tyres are old and worn.
(ii) wheel to wheel 'who blinks first' racing maneuvers between similarly paced cars
(iii) looking at lap traces (something I have been able to do only over the past 2-3 yrs) and deciphering what each driver was trying to prioritize differently to his competitor.

Now, it seems like the weightage of performance has shifted from things like 'limits of grip' & tyre preserving skill, to 'energy management software algorithm optimization for laptime, vis-a-vis driving style of particular driver'. More brain power rather than seat-of-the-pants assessment of grip.

[avantman]

There is of course a chance the racing aspect will compensate, but if the racing side of things doesn't improve then this could be a painful season to watch. Fingers crossed for tomorrow.

I think racing will actually be even worse than driving on a push lap.
We’ve of course yet to see, but It’s easy to predict what type of “overtaking” will be predominant. This is gonna be exchange of positions on the straights with massive artificial speed difference caused merely by state of charge of the batteries.
We will possibly see a lot of exchange of positions, uncompetitive overtakes of such nature, but that doesnt mean good, let alone great racing. That’s junk food, not even 1* dish.
Slipstream is and has always been the cornerstone of proper overtaking and ultimately racing in any real motosports- from karting to motogp. They’ve been making slipstream effect progressively weaker over the years. Now they added DRS on both ends even for defender. Absolutely crazy direction that is.

[Hoffman900]

New rules, I hate it.

[FittingMechanics]

We will see the racing tomorrow. If the racing is exciting with lot of overtakes then we are stuck with this.

If it sucks then next rule set is much more likely to go in opposite direction, maybe no electrical components but sustainable fuels.

[jacme22]

We will see the racing tomorrow. If the racing is exciting with lot of overtakes then we are stuck with this.

If it sucks then next rule set is much more likely to go in opposite direction, maybe no electrical components but sustainable fuels.

IMO, the issue isn’t hybridization itself as most manufacturers are already moving that way for road relevance. The real problem is the 50/50 power split forced into a tiny battery. 50/50 hybrid energy management like in IMO LMP1 gold era (2014–2016) can create interesting racing, but that doesn't translate well to a sprint series like F1.

The MGUK is now so powerful that it drains the battery almost instantly. We've ended up with patches like the active aero just to compensate for this massive energy deficit.

IMO going forward, manufacturers need to bend and realize F1 cannot be 100% aligned with their corporate needs. I believe thata larger, naturally aspirated V6 with a more modest 30–40% electric split would preserve F1 nature. Without geting rid of energy management as part of the strategic battle, but, at the same time, without making the driver a passanger to execute engineers commands.

These regulations feel were a bet on the total electrification hype post-covid. Now manufacturers are now realizing that was a strategic overreach, you just need to look at the latest quarterly earnings from Merc. A total disaster.

[Spacepace]

They've finally neutered F1. I hate these cars. I can't stand watching a car super clipping, it's sad