Cold Fussion wrote: ↑28 Apr 2026, 17:56
mzso wrote: ↑26 Apr 2026, 14:21
Cold Fussion wrote: ↑25 Apr 2026, 12:49
Hopefully nothing given it's primarily a spec series.
A silly blanket statement... BTW so is F1 by now. With spec parts, and a formula so specific that many other parts are practically the same.
The B.Sport guy for example pointed at the front regen that it would be a good solution to the current fiasko of F1. And even as an FE spec part it's not too bulky.
Calling F1 a spec series is absurd. Front regen without front deployment is just a band aid to an otherwise poor set of technical regulations, any open set of regulations would see front axle deployment if a motor was already present on the front axle. In my opinion F1 should either embrace awd with front axle regen, or develop a set of regulations where front axle harvesting isn't required to make the energy budget work.
I don't think calling F1 a "spec" series is absurd.
Teams and Engine suppliers appear to be more focused on designing cars to fit within the increasingly constrained specifications of the technical regulations than ever before. When someone comes up with something outside of the box, the specifications of the box are updated to nullify it.
Now I know in some ways this is a semantic argument, but you can't deny the fact that so much of F1 is now heavily pre specified. Short of buying "off the shelf" parts (which some teams actually do) or turn key solutions (which has also been done. Super Aguri), teams are focusing on building the most efficient spec parts they can; chasing diminishing returns, and loop holes rather than truly innovating (in the purest sense).
Take for instance Ferrari's partial cover of the exhaust. Yes its clever solution others are now starting to follow, but it is in essence a stupid piece of engineering made clever by highly specified set of technical regulations. Or their alleged fuel flow "cheat" which would never have been thought abut if F1 didn't try to be so highly technical in specifying fuel flow limits, which seemed a bit redundant given the engine capacity, compression ratio, boost, fuel tank and fuel chemistry were already so heavily restricted and specified.
Now I wouldn't call F1 a spec series, and I am sure that reference was more about making a point about the constrained tech regs than actually claiming it is a spec series like F2 or F3. But to say its absurd to compare it to a series like Formula E, in my opinion, is just as absurd. I would take a look into what Nissan did a few years back in FE. Some innovative design and engineering that would be the envy of every F1 team.
My personal opinion, is that F1 does to much over specifying of "what" your allowed to do, "How" your allowed to do it and "when" your allowed to do it for any given parameter. This is where I to feel it has some essence of a spec series.
Everyone hates on the WEC's BoP. But apart from that I think they nailed the regs perfectly in that they are very clear on what the performance/outcomes to be achieved from the powertrains and then giving the engineers the freedom to do it anyway they want (relatively speaking). Yes the BoP is annoying as hell, but at least the BoP is out there for everyone to see. F1's engine AUDO regs is just BoP in disguise, but with some extra politics and the need for the worse performing engine suppliers to spend millions of more dollars to catch up whilst the better engine suppliers are effectively handicapped for doing a great job.
In probably an overly simplistic opinion, they should simply put torque sensors on the rear axel. Tell teams the torque is never allowed to exceed a certain amount, and let them do whatever the hell they like. Instead, F1 had an idea on what they think should be the max power output, and instead of just specifying that, they created a highly detailed and constraining set of specifications for almost every aspect of the engine. Then everyone gets annoyed at Mercedes in pre-season because they caught F1 with their pants down when it came to specifying the compression ratio and basis for testing/measuring it.
Cap the total fuel allocation for a race, and if it works out quicker to have some Hybrid electrical components, you bet F1 will adopt it! You might even end up with tech the trickles down to the road cars which then creates the "road relevance" everyone is always banging on about.
Rant Over.
Apologies