2026 Scuderia Ferrari HP F1 Team

[F1Schu]

Engine is apparently okay but gearbox broken. He does not take a penalty for a new one I don't think.

[Just_a_fan]

I don't buy into the narrative that Lewis only struggled because of GE, I think he was also declining with age. There's also a big difference in how they "struggled". Lewis was clearly not capable of driving those cars to the same pace as his teammates, hence why he was being beaten by a large margin in quali (24 and 25). Charles now is probably driving the car close to the limit, and so is Lewis, because there is basically no pace difference between them over one lap. The issue at hand is that how you reach the limit has changed, and some (like Max) would argue it's easier now because it doesn't require the same commitment and edge feel. It's software driven, energy driven.

Hamilton has, throughout his career, majored on late braking and using weight transfer and the associated movement of the centre of pressure, to produce lap time. Go back and watch his performances in junior formulae - they're available online.

He has generally majored at those circuits that have require rotation of the car under braking rather than carrying maximum speed through very fast corners. Indeed, he admitted as much early in his Mercedes days comparing his performance with Rosberg (at a time he was beating Rosberg in the title race, not in 2016).

The tunnel cars (not GE, please, as all F1 cars have been GE cars for decades and they still are GE cars) required the suspension to be set up to prevent weight transfer and especially movement of the centre of pressure. That immediately took a chunk of time away from a driver that had spent a career using those things to extract lap time.

One only has to look at his performance before, during and after the tunnel car regs to see this is true. Fast before, relatively crap during, back to being fast after.

And suggesting that Hamilton is quick now and others are slow because the cars require a driving style that uses the computers to be fast, suggests that the guys who aren't so fast now are limited to only being fast in cars that don't require a bit of mental gymnastics. And frankly, as a Hamilton fan, I'd never say the guy was the sharpest knife in the block so if he can manage these cars and others can't, what does that say about them?

[f1316]

I think you’ll find it will be the entire regulation.

I was trying to let people down gently...

I mean, if it’s two tenths in Monza, with that much engine deficit, surely other circuits will go in Ferrari’s favour? How much will this hp boost be worth on circuits when they were already close?

Sure Mercedes’ ADUO might move the goalposts against but (a) it’s not coming right away (b) by all accounts they weren’t expecting to get one, so didn’t have a plan in the works - I can’t imagine it’ll be massive.

It seems to me we never do well when it’s expected this year. I have a funny feeling that, after the fallout of all this, we’ll go and win Mardring. That won’t change all the issues these last three races have shown, but it might stop the catastrophising a bit.

[Darth-Piekus]

Engine is apparently okay but gearbox broken. He does not take a penalty for a new one I don't think.

Does he have a spare gearbox that can change without getting the first penalty?

[woocasz]

Or simply the new rules favor the complete package and some drivers (Charles, Piastri, Russell) don't have what it takes if they can't adapt. How many times has Norris changed his driving style and adapted. He even said it on his interview. The new rules are different (bad maybe) but no matter the rules the best drivers will still shine. It's not the first time that happened and not the last time it will happen. By the way woocaz. The score so far is 8-5 in races (with half of them Hamilton having faced unfair penalties, hits from other drivers or Ferrari being incompetent), 5-4 in podiums, 0-4 in crashes. A cost of 30 to 40 points. Add those and the distance would be more than 60 to 70 points. Doesn't reflect well on Leclerc on the contrary being behind a 41 year old when he should be faster due to age.

And really mate? You are insinuating that Antonelli is fast due to the new rules when he gave a masterclass driving in just a few laps passing his teammate two times last Sunday? Even Max adapted after a few races.

Maybe the battery change (60-40) might change things again (I doubt it as you still need to save battery) but what are you going to say if the right order doesn't change and becomes even worse for Charles?

https://twitter.com/TrackSimsF1/status/ ... 6645174712

I’ve said it more than once: Charles is faster than Hamilton.
Despite all this struggling, the new rear suspension new brakes, and still Charles is faster.

[edu2703]

I’ve said it more than once: Charles is faster than Hamilton.
Despite all this struggling, the new rear suspension new brakes, and still Charles is faster.

And yet, he's still 36 points behind Hamilton in the championship.

I know you're going to mention the DNFs, races affected by brake issue, and that Leclerc has still scored more points than Hamilton in the last few races, but it's still good to bring up the topic of consistency.

Having good race pace is excellent, but you need to stay on the track to translate that into results and not ruin the race on the second lap out of desperation to avoid losing a position that can be recovered on the next lap. Nobody will look at raw race pace statistics when the driver in question doesn't take advantage of it by not finishing the race.

[F1Schu]

Engine is apparently okay but gearbox broken. He does not take a penalty for a new one I don't think.

Does he have a spare gearbox that can change without getting the first penalty?

From what I read, yeah.

[lio007]

Engine is apparently okay but gearbox broken. He does not take a penalty for a new one I don't think.

Does he have a spare gearbox that can change without getting the first penalty?

From what I read, yeah.

Grid penalties for changing gearboxes don't exist anymore since '25.

[gordonthegun]

[Badger]

I don't buy into the narrative that Lewis only struggled because of GE, I think he was also declining with age. There's also a big difference in how they "struggled". Lewis was clearly not capable of driving those cars to the same pace as his teammates, hence why he was being beaten by a large margin in quali (24 and 25). Charles now is probably driving the car close to the limit, and so is Lewis, because there is basically no pace difference between them over one lap. The issue at hand is that how you reach the limit has changed, and some (like Max) would argue it's easier now because it doesn't require the same commitment and edge feel. It's software driven, energy driven.

Hamilton has, throughout his career, majored on late braking and using weight transfer and the associated movement of the centre of pressure, to produce lap time. Go back and watch his performances in junior formulae - they're available online.

He has generally majored at those circuits that have require rotation of the car under braking rather than carrying maximum speed through very fast corners. Indeed, he admitted as much early in his Mercedes days comparing his performance with Rosberg (at a time he was beating Rosberg in the title race, not in 2016).

The tunnel cars (not GE, please, as all F1 cars have been GE cars for decades and they still are GE cars) required the suspension to be set up to prevent weight transfer and especially movement of the centre of pressure. That immediately took a chunk of time away from a driver that had spent a career using those things to extract lap time.

One only has to look at his performance before, during and after the tunnel car regs to see this is true. Fast before, relatively crap during, back to being fast after.

And suggesting that Hamilton is quick now and others are slow because the cars require a driving style that uses the computers to be fast, suggests that the guys who aren't so fast now are limited to only being fast in cars that don't require a bit of mental gymnastics. And frankly, as a Hamilton fan, I'd never say the guy was the sharpest knife in the block so if he can manage these cars and others can't, what does that say about them?

These cars have similar suspension set-ups to the GE cars, with massive anti-dive on the front. They don't dive or move the centre of pressure anything like the pre 2022 cars. One of the reasons for this, I would argue, is that they do not require late braking because of energy management. Better to just have a stable platform. Also, since the fancy rear suspensions were banned (inerters banned since 2022) it's just harder to make a suspension that moves the centre of pressure during braking.

Who is "slow"? Charles certainly isn't, as we have already established he is every bit as quick as Lewis in quali. In fact all the top 3 teams have teammates qualifying within one tenth of each other. Even at RB the quali gap has come down to like 2,5 tenths. The pattern of convergence is undeniable. No one is slow, everyone is fast. How can this be when it has never been the case before? I would postulate the answer is right in front of us in that Max quote that was posted here earlier. "These cars are numb to your driver inputs".

[Darth-Piekus]

Max though says at the end the same thing as Lando. No matter the rules the best drivers will always shine in the end.

[Waz]

I don't know why, but I was sure that was always the plan? I must have read it on here near the beginning of the season already, before Miami.

The info then was that the engine being used in 2026 is a development of the 2025 ICE to meet current regulations. They were running out of time for the 2026 engine to prove reliable.

2027 was always going to be a new design, obviously with tricks learned from the Mercedes.

[dans79]

2027 was always going to be a new design, obviously with tricks learned from the Mercedes.

And they will have wo ADUO tokens as well.

[mzso]

I’ve said it more than once: Charles is faster than Hamilton.
Despite all this struggling, the new rear suspension new brakes, and still Charles is faster.

And yet, he's still 36 points behind Hamilton in the championship.

I know you're going to mention the DNFs, races affected by brake issue, and that Leclerc has still scored more points than Hamilton in the last few races, but it's still good to bring up the topic of consistency.

Having good race pace is excellent, but you need to stay on the track to translate that into results and not ruin the race on the second lap out of desperation to avoid losing a position that can be recovered on the next lap. Nobody will look at raw race pace statistics when the driver in question doesn't take advantage of it by not finishing the race.

Completely irrelevant to what you're arguing.
Also he with one exception (-5.5 points) he always finished in front of his teammate at the end of the year. And that one year was when Ferrari was incapable of fixing a car with minor damage from saturday to sunday. Wasting a potentially easy victory.

[mzso]

Interesting. I guess they're hard at work on expanding parts for a high compression ratio at working temperatures.