Bence wrote: ↑19 Mar 2026, 04:12
In the midst of the noise, talk, stormy opinions, no one asks THE fundamental question:
WHY DESIGN SOMETHING THAT IN THE END PERFORMS WAY UNDER ITS OWN CAPABILITIES? If sustainability is the current magic word (usually without proper context and content), then WHAT A WASTE TO PRODUCE ANYTHING that is NOT properly tuned to its capabilities/limitations? Are these cars overengineered? Or engineered to a nonexistent environment that was based on pink memories?
A current F1 car does and can not operate at peak performance - ever. The ICE and the electrics can not add their maximum performance at all times. Because of the limited cornering speeds the entire concept of grip is just lukewarm milquetoast swimming in a bowl of flavorlessness. The cars can NEVER reach the aerodynamic optimum, and max downforce is simply not needed because they are turning way slower than possible - thanks to that utter BS energy management. So, based on the ACTUAL cornering speeds, the ultra-sophisticated aero is unneeded. Why build it that way? These speeds can be maintained by smaller (more efficient, more sustainable - remember?) tires, because again, the cars are NOT operating at the limit of adhesion we'd find on their theoretical white papers. The V6 turbo is choked with maxed out fuel flow as they can never reach their allowed peak RPMs, so why specify it? Can you imagine a 100m run where Usain Bolt has special shoes which will grain at 30m, lose grip at 80m, and shorts that start to slide down his legs every 25 meters to provide more exciting racing?
A cheetah's, a greyhound's, a marlin's look is not coincidental. They are purpose-built exactly for speed, because it's the main factor that guarantees their survival. If a sport is based on speed, the fanbase will fade away if the cars start to grow grocery baskets on them. No one wants to see naturally aspirated diesel marlins, or cheetahs with Flintstone-drive. Such conceptual abominations are destined for the Taygetos of tech. The cars look like precision instruments, like predators, but they are - just to quote some lustless world champions - "chef's utilities/antiracers/battery champions". In nature, you should learn that red-yellow-black-yellow is a venomous predator, but the red-black-yellow-black is a harmless lookalike. I think we deserve the originals, so why should we go with the Fauxrmula 1?
When there was talk about that the cars "would hit 400km/h", the only thing that hit was cruel reality when the MGU starts to scale down and disappear in the fog. The ICE is now too gutless to rule over the air and the spectator can NOT cheer for the highest terminal velocity cars. Fans watching the TV, will see the blatant LIE when F1 takes away the onboard, to keep the illusion alive that the cars are actually fast at the end of the straights and the drivers need serious balls to take the corners.
We have wonderful initial accerelation for a couple of seconds. Can these seconds compensate for the lost soul, the essence? Who knows? With a stricter deployment/harvesting ratio the cars could master the corners in the future with pure mechanical grip. If we can harvest the most at 30km/h, so be it, and let solid fuel rockets compensate for it which can push the cars exactly for 2.3765 seconds. As their thrust start to vanish, the broadcast will switch to the crowds to find somebody awake, to wave for the camera.
So we need suspensions/tires/brakes/aero for a way lower average cornering speed. Top speeds are roughly the same. Wow, great achievement. In theory, they have only one mission: to provide an unforgettable (SENSORY RACING!) experience by balancing on the edge and rewarding the utmost in driver's skills. This entire generation of cars are just an empty promise or an example of overpromising/underdelivering. Overtakes are not overtakes, just the kind of power surges two ambulance teams can experience when they are competing with defibrillators.
- ZAP! Oh, mine is alive! Oh, fck, not...
- It's mine! ZAP! Told ya!
- Nooot, my friend! ZAP! See???
We are cheering that maybe they can bring them back, but the motions are just the results of the jolts and not signs of life. Instead of zaps, I'd be content with infernal sounds, spectacular glowing discs, the smell of racing fuel (not green, floral grass compost tea), loud bangs, some decent fire spitting (blue flame during acceleration, orange flames on downshifting) and heck, it is also spectacular when an overstressed engine is incapable to contain its combustions on the internal side. When a recipe is unnecessarily more complex than flour, water, salt and sourdough, you should avoid it. If you can not pronounce the ingredients, you should avoid it. If a fan/spectator/viewer doesn't have the slightest clue about what's happening, it's not the way to do F1.
And talking about skills: have you listened to the full radios? It is painful to hear world champion drivers asking (somewhat helplessly) when and where they should act totally counterintuitively as they forcibly shut down their instincts, and they have to rely on their engineers who are directing them where to find some more holy juice, or where to go even slower to conserve the (of course, proper racing) tires - because y'know, going slow = going fast. Fans don't get it.
If these rules would be the norm everywhere, people would build balloons with a hole - and a compressor with solar panels on them to pump back the escaping air and call it an intellectual tour de force. I think there is only one thing that is even more useful: a peeled airless balloon with no string on it. Oh, I heard that the rulemakers had taken an IQ test, but luckily, it came back negative...
So even a hundred words have only one ending: just let these cars accelerate as hard as they can; under 50km/h, or above. Let them turn as fast as they can; so that 0.2km/h more and they are falling off the track. Let them brake as hard as the tires allow it. Let the engines sing at their max RPMs (true 15.000, anyone?) on the straights. Let the drivers be just happy. Build tires that can joyously sustain these speeds for a long time. Ad absurdum, give the purse of the champion team to the weakest at the year's end. We need more true overtakes, right? Then maybe a little more equality would mean more overtaking on the teams' level. No year long reigns, no top teams for decades. Excitement. Let everything to be in its element. Let the cars use their full capabilities they are built for. And don't hide the CAFE of the entire F1 organization behind a nonexistent green mask. The cars and their fuels are just homeopathic parts of this. Don't LIE. We don't need demigods to order the pundits to say nice things and cover up the truth. Is shadowspeech a new word? Don't let the slightest bit of politics to creep in. Simplify to truth and true sustainability. When you reach it, unspoken burdens vanish and the magic appears.
