2026 gearing

[FrukostScones]

ok, from shortest bottom too longest top fro Audi. interesting, but how can this make sense.

[AR3-GP]

... why would a manufacturer have an 8 speed box, and only seek to use 5 or 6 of the gears most of the time?

the final drive gears ('crown wheel & pinion') haven't been circuit-specific for many years
(so since 2014 the final drive and gearbox are a sealed unit)
after this year nothing can be changed - apart from like-for-like replacement

so (conceptually speaking) eg a slow circuit might mostly use gears 1 - 6 but a fast one might mostly use gears 3 - 8

That would be very clever, wouldn't it?

[motobaleno]

Very interesting 3d. Thank you to all posters

[padajacaba]

Still around and already digging into test data. Most interesting thing so far is the Audi's long and wide gearing. Their 1st is much shorter than everyone else and their 7th is about the same as McLaren's 8th! McLaren have 8th set to be right at 360kph for 13,000rpm, which I think makes sense given these cars will probably top out around 350-355 max as the ERS-K power vs speed regulation limit hits.

Surely not a newbie error?
New ratios for Audi coming soon.

Maybe. We haven't seen anyone go this long on 8th since 2014 when Mercedes took a similar approach - 7th was good for 360+kph at 13k and 8th well over 400. They moved away from it pretty quickly though..I think once everyone started to figure out ideal rpm zones for MGU-H harvest.

Best guess is that Audi are looking at 8th as a dedicated Overtake Boost gear. The new V6s probably have peak power around 11.2-11.3k rpm like last year, and their current 8th would put them right at peak V6 power at 337kph as the ERS-K starts to tail off in Overtake mode. McLaren, for example, will be spinning 1000rpm faster for the same speed in 8th, which surely has some kind of negative impact on power. Could be that Audi are happy with the compromise of wider spacing and using 7th as the 'normal' top gear most of the time for the sake of maybe a little more power at the wheels when over 340kph. We'll see if they stick with this approach.

[padajacaba]

Nice! Would love to see the ratios in number form if you have the time

My best guesses at overall ratios, assuming a 348mm rolling radius

[hollus]

Best guess is that Audi are looking at 8th as a dedicated Overtake Boost gear.

Cam you make me a car for combat? That’s com-bat, COM-BAT, COM-BAT!

It might even make sense in the midfield, these cars can run OK-ish with only 7 gears.

[Zynerji]

If this starts to show that it's better to harvest by upshifting under braking, and that's why audi is way different, it's going to be mindblowingly awful.

[Badger]

If this starts to show that it's better to harvest by upshifting under braking, and that's why audi is way different, it's going to be mindblowingly awful.

That makes about as much sense as walking upstairs to get to the cellar.

[Zynerji]

Sounds legit under 2026 regs.

Higher gears should spin the mguk with more torque under braking, I think.

[venkyhere]

Brilliant analysis and graphs, @padajacaba
Audi and McLaren are the two extremes, everyone else falling in between.

[johnnycesup]

I'd expect the choice of gear ratios to be very much PU dependent, and that's true except for McLaren. I wonder what they are trying to do differently with the PU.

[michl420]

FP2 AUS, Mclaren and Red Bull have a very similar 8 gear. MCL 317 kmh-11500 rpm, RB 317 kmh-11400rpm,
Ferrari 317 kmh-11170 rpm.

[michl420]

The 8th gear should also be suitable for superclipping, meaning you should stay above ~10300 rpm while the MGUK is braking. Audi dropping from 10500 to 9000 with there long 8th gear.

[Brahmal]

I'd expect the choice of gear ratios to be very much PU dependent, and that's true except for McLaren. I wonder what they are trying to do differently with the PU.

They might not know either, as I imagine Mercedes gave them the bare minimum of information that they needed for formulating their transmission design. It seems that the transmission is more important than ever before with these engine regs as the two must work hand-in-glove to charge the battery effectively. McLaren might be regretting not just taking the Merc gear cassette, and making their own casing.

They will have a chance to change their ratios at some point this season, correct? If so, I wonder if they'll just copy Merc and go from there.

[hollus]

Mercedes go tthe gear ratios spectacularly wrong at first in 2014. So I wouldn't blindly copy them.