2026 Japanese Grand Prix - Suzuka, March 27 - 29

[michl420]

From what I can understand, the reason they slow down on the end of straights is not because they spent their energy and are on ICE alone (the ICE is powerful enough to run these cars in SLM at over 330 kph).

Not even close.

they may not get to that speed without electric support, but more or less keeping it would need far less power. Those cars have almost no drag.

From my observation, the cars drop to ~300 kmh at ICE alone (SLM).

[bananapeel23]

From my observation, the cars drop to ~300 kmh at ICE alone (SLM).

These cars do not slow down on the straights with the ICE alone, at least not to 330, let alone 300 kmh. I can prove it.

Gasly hit 353.9 km/h in China. Deployment is not allowed above 355 km/h, even with overtake mode enabled. Overtake mode rampdown is linear, starting at 337 km/h and hitting 0kW at 355 km/h. As a result he couldn't possibly have been deploying over 21.3 kW, or 28 horsepower from the MGU-K. Realistically he would not be deploying anything at all, but I'll calculate it under the assumption that he was deploying the maximum allowed 21.3 kW.

Assuming that ICE power is 530 hp (p2), and that 354 km/h is the theoretical top speed (v1) of the Alpine when deploying 28 hp (p2 = 558 hp), we can calculate the theoretical top speed of a car on ICE power only (v2). The formula for drag limited top speed in identical conditions, apart from power output is v2 = v1 * cbrt(p1/p2)

v2 = ​354 * cbrt(530/558)

v2 = 354 * cbrt(0.945)

v2 = 354 * 0.9813

v2 = 347.4 km/h

So with a 530 hp ICE, the Alpine is at the very least capable of 347.4 km/h. In reality I'm sure that the car was not at the theoretical top speed when it was measured, and could have continued to accelerate if the straight was longer. But even with this conservative estimate, we can without a doubt conclude that they can sustain almost 350 km/h on ICE power alone.

In reality these cars will easily break 360 km/h on longer straights like Baku or on low air density tracks like Mexico. I would be shocked if they didn't also break the 372.5 km/h top speed record set by Bottas in 2016.

[erudite450]

Can we have a dedicated thread going forward for all the complaining about the current regs?

I miss these threads actually being more about the event. I get the fact that some other folks miss Verstappen winning 19 out of 22 races in 2023 - a banner year for excitement and close racing in F1.

Zibby!

Glad to see you still around these parts my friend!

Master's thesis and start of PhD program limited me to just lurking

[michl420]

From my observation, the cars drop to ~300 kmh at ICE alone (SLM).

These cars do not slow down on the straights with the ICE alone, at least not to 330, let alone 300 kmh. I can prove it.

Gasly hit 353.9 km/h in China. Deployment is not allowed above 355 km/h, even with overtake mode enabled. Overtake mode rampdown is linear, starting at 337 km/h and hitting 0kW at 355 km/h. As a result he couldn't possibly have been deploying over 21.3 kW, or 28 horsepower from the MGU-K. Realistically he would not be deploying anything at all, but I'll calculate it under the assumption that he was deploying the maximum allowed 21.3 kW.

Assuming that ICE power is 530 hp (p2), and that 354 km/h is the theoretical top speed (v1) of the Alpine when deploying 28 hp (p2 = 558 hp), we can calculate the theoretical top speed of a car on ICE power only (v2). The formula for drag limited top speed in identical conditions, apart from power output is v2 = v1 * cbrt(p1/p2)

v2 = ​354 * cbrt(530/558)

v2 = 354 * cbrt(0.945)

v2 = 354 * 0.9813

v2 = 347.4 km/h

So with a 530 hp ICE, the Alpine is at the very least capable of 347.4 km/h. In reality I'm sure that the car was not at the theoretical top speed when it was measured, and could have continued to accelerate if the straight was longer. But even with this conservative estimate, we can without a doubt conclude that they can sustain almost 350 km/h on ICE power alone.

In reality these cars will easily break 360 km/h on longer straights like Baku or on low air density tracks like Mexico. I would be shocked if they didn't also break the 372.5 km/h top speed record set by Bottas in 2016.

Your calculation is probably right, and I am aware that the cars hit 350 kmh more or less with ICE alone (theoretical).
But as an example, when Russel got re-ovetaked by Piastri suzuka/main straight, he was pretty sure without battery power most of the straight and had also no superclipping. He drove 295 kmh the whole straight.
In china, all cars become slower from ~320kmh to ~310kmh on the backstraight, long before the superclipping.
How can you explain that?

[bananapeel23]

In china, all cars become slower from ~320kmh to ~310kmh on the backstraight, long before the superclipping.
How can you explain that?

Presumably the wings closing? Alternatively a gradual introduction of superclipping instead of immediately jumping to 250kW?

[Waz]

Interesting. Raises the question for me. Is the slowing down an exaggerated narrative using selected data or clips?

[zibby43]

Zibby!

Glad to see you still around these parts my friend!

Master's thesis and start of PhD program limited me to just lurking

I think you’ve allocated your time wisely hah! Congrats!!