Possible solutions to improve the 2026 Engine Regulations

[Tommy Cookers]

... Active aero is also great for sustainability, since it both decreases the amount of fuel wasted on fighting drag .....

there is no fuel wasted in fighting drag in the (old-type) car that laps the track faster (than the new-type cars)

[eyelid]

First they moan that turboengines doesn't make any noise and it's turbos fault. It wasnt but fuel flow cap.

Next they want 2.4 V8 with turboes, that would make easily like 1500bhp, these cars would not be safe anymore.

[Zynerji]

1. reintroduce MGUH as a spec part

1. Offer a spec MGUH at a fixed price, but let the teams have the possibility to make their own also. The trick is to balance the rules so it's worth it making your own, but not be doomed with the spec part.

Realistically Audi could perhaps try to purchase the Renault MGU-H IP to get a solid start. You could also straight up limit MGU-H harvesting to a level which would be easily achievable, instead of having the 2014 style battery bypass (which resulted in unlimited harvesting).

mmmmm. Unlimited harvesting....

[JordanMugen]

Next they want 2.4 V8 with turboes, that would make easily like 1500bhp, these cars would not be safe anymore.

I understand these are proposed to be Indycar/CART-like low boost engines, but with modern efficiency techologies applied of course. Presumably a fuel flow rate cap (and/or a very low boost limit) will contain power output?

So where the 1.6L turbo engines are permitted 4 bar(?) gauge in 2026, these Champcar-like engines would only be permitted <1.5 bar gauge one presumes, if not even less? In the mid-90's CART ran 1.6 bar while this reduced to 1.1 bar by the early 2000's.

Furthermore, in the 2008 season the Cosworth XFE engines were further restricted to 5.9 PSI or 0.4 bar of boost (gauge) limiting power to around 700hp from the 2.65L single-turbo V8. A similar restriction (or even lower) could be applied in F1.

Though if you have a turbo engine with no MGU-H and a 3 PSI or 0.2 bar limit -- then is there even a point to having a turbo at all‽ I guess a very low limit combined with MGU-H could however work well for efficiency purposes though (albeit killing any Champcar-like screaming engine sound)?

I'm not really interested in another set of turbo engines. Why stay with turbo if you have one last chance to fix this and we all knew the NA V10 was the peak of the spectacle!! Just go NA V10 and add a bit mild hybrid and viola!

The 3.0 V12 was the peak of the spectacle in 1995, it was just a slightly dumb choice and then banned by 2000 when it threatened to be a superior choice -- with a scramble for everyone to match Toyota's V12 if it proved superior.

So if you are banning turbos, I say keep the existing 1.6L V6 bore x stroke and choose a 3.2L V12 layout. It seems logical to say "turbo out, double the layout to compensate". The Vee angle, if still a mandated item, would have to be changed from 90 degrees to something more suitable like 75 or 65 degrees of course.

[WardenOfTheNorth]

... Active aero is also great for sustainability, since it both decreases the amount of fuel wasted on fighting drag .....

there is no fuel wasted in fighting drag in the (old-type) car that laps the track faster (than the new-type cars)

Lapped a little quicker but used a lot more fuel.

[PlatinumZealot]

2 liter turbo v8 with unlimited fuel flow would be absolutely insane. The best of the 1.5L turbo engines in the 1980s produced up to 1400 horsepower in quali. Modern materials would push that to 2000+.

I'm not really interested in another set of turbo engines. Why stay with turbo if you have one last chance to fix this and we all knew the NA V10 was the peak of the spectacle!! Just go NA V10 and add a bit mild hybrid and viola!

It was just revs making the noise. Do the turbo rules engines revving to 18 000rpm and we're done. Still dodging the facts that we need NA V10 to have noise as we can have the noise on Turbos also, but some stupid people capped these to 10 500rpm preventing the spectacle.

Turbos muffle everything. That metallic sound would be gone. They make the sound of a throaty vacuum cleaner IMO.

[JordanMugen]

I'm not really interested in another set of turbo engines. Why stay with turbo if you have one last chance to fix this and we all knew the NA V10 was the peak of the spectacle!! Just go NA V10 and add a bit mild hybrid and viola!

It was just revs making the noise. Do the turbo rules engines revving to 18 000rpm and we're done. Still dodging the facts that we need NA V10 to have noise as we can have the noise on Turbos also, but some stupid people capped these to 10 500rpm preventing the spectacle.

Turbos muffle everything. That metallic sound would be gone. They make the sound of a throaty vacuum cleaner IMO.

To be fair, WRCars sound quite "metallic" even with turbos. I don't know why WRCars sound quite good, but BTCC and TCRs sound quite bad.

Is it just due to the reverbaration found around the more varied environments that WRCars run, as Super Formula cars with purpose-built racing engines sound quite muted by comparison?

(Obviously BTCC and TCR engines are barely (and in some cases not at all, apart from the tune) modified from standard road engines, so can't be expected to sound terribly dramatic.)



Is it just a function of the spectactor points being much further away on a permanent circuit than a rally stage? (Sadly, the new Adelaide Street Circuit built for MotoGP will have the characteristics of a permanent circuit and no longer have the "close to the action" characteristics of a street circuit. )

[WardenOfTheNorth]

I'm not really interested in another set of turbo engines. Why stay with turbo if you have one last chance to fix this and we all knew the NA V10 was the peak of the spectacle!! Just go NA V10 and add a bit mild hybrid and viola!

It was just revs making the noise. Do the turbo rules engines revving to 18 000rpm and we're done. Still dodging the facts that we need NA V10 to have noise as we can have the noise on Turbos also, but some stupid people capped these to 10 500rpm preventing the spectacle.

Turbos muffle everything. That metallic sound would be gone. They make the sound of a throaty vacuum cleaner IMO.

Well. The McLaren F1 car lapping Silverstone on Tuesday sounded pretty epic to me!!

Throaty, complex and awesome!!

[PlatinumZealot]

It was just revs making the noise. Do the turbo rules engines revving to 18 000rpm and we're done. Still dodging the facts that we need NA V10 to have noise as we can have the noise on Turbos also, but some stupid people capped these to 10 500rpm preventing the spectacle.

Turbos muffle everything. That metallic sound would be gone. They make the sound of a throaty vacuum cleaner IMO.

To be fair, WRCars sound quite "metallic" even with turbos. I don't know why WRCars sound quite good, but BTCC and TCRs sound quite bad.

Is it just due to the reverbaration found around the more varied environments that WRCars run, as Super Formula cars with purpose-built racing engines sound quite muted by comparison?

(Obviously BTCC and TCR engines are barely (and in some cases not at all, apart from the tune) modified from standard road engines, so can't be expected to sound terribly dramatic.)



Is it just a function of the spectactor points being much further away on a permanent circuit than a rally stage? (Sadly, the new Adelaide Street Circuit built for MotoGP will have the characteristics of a permanent circuit and no longer have the "close to the action" characteristics of a street circuit. )

To me it still sounds like a vaccum cleaner, a bee hive plus a fart can on top of that! Lol

Very muffled. It's sounds good still, but not the same level.

[De Wet]

... Active aero is also great for sustainability, since it both decreases the amount of fuel wasted on fighting drag .....

there is no fuel wasted in fighting drag in the (old-type) car that laps the track faster (than the new-type cars)

Sustainability is political bs. We can move away from it completely.

[WardenOfTheNorth]

... Active aero is also great for sustainability, since it both decreases the amount of fuel wasted on fighting drag .....

there is no fuel wasted in fighting drag in the (old-type) car that laps the track faster (than the new-type cars)

Sustainability is political bs. We can move away from it completely.

Not while car companies care about their image.

Also it is science, not politics.

[peewon]

Not while car companies care about their image.

Also it is science, not politics.

The race fuel contributes not even 0.1% of the total carbon foot print of an F1 race. So many people in the paddock fly in and out on individual private planes. Let alone the spectators and all that. However, its just marketing for car companies so they will pretend for optics.

[De Wet]

Not while car companies care about their image.

Also it is science, not politics.

The race fuel contributes not even 0.1% of the total carbon foot print of an F1 race. So many people in the paddock fly in and out on individual private planes. Let alone the spectators and all that. However, its just marketing for car companies so they will pretend for optics.

You mean 0.0001%. Thinking of the aviation & shipping industries, it seems to me the automotive sector are regulated and taxed to death compared to the others.

My last comment on this as I think we are entering the political arena now.

[peewon]

You mean 0.0001%. Thinking of the aviation & shipping industries, it seems to me the automotive sector are regulated and taxed to death compared to the others.

My last comment on this as I think we are entering the political arena now.

Yeah. I do think its important to stress to F1 fans, both young and new, that there is no sustainability argument for electrification in F1 PUs. Its a purely commercial/marketing play for manufacturers. Its always a balancing act for rule makers but the balance has shifted to far away from sporting concerns. So if F1 shifts back fully combustion engines, which would greatly improve the sporting aspect, supporting it is not betraying any higher principle no matter where you lie on the political spectrum.

[Francis Bacon]

First they moan that turboengines doesn't make any noise and it's turbos fault. It wasnt but fuel flow cap.

Next they want 2.4 V8 with turboes, that would make easily like 1500bhp, these cars would not be safe anymore.

I don't think 2.4L turbocharged V8s would "easily" produce 1500 hp, least of all to the point that nothing could be done about it regulatorily to keep it lower. Heck, creating a compact, lightweight 1500hp racing engine (that has to run for any length of time) isn't easy in first place.

So guess I don't understand your position on the matter.