Yes. Well, that was what we saw the last two years, right?upsidedowntoast wrote: ↑12 Feb 2026, 22:28Right, they used to sell weaker engines during their 2014-2021 era and they no longer can. This means that their inherent advantage against a customer team like Mclaren is much narrower than in years past.
As mentioned by another poster here...I also think it will be P1 to P4 in Oz for Merc and McLaren. The issue is still, that the McLaren looked like last year on the onboards...just perfect drivability. If this is on speed like last year, then they are again super strong.
To me it looks like Papaya rules is the only thing that would prevent a Russel WDC...
I think this is normal. If I remember it correctly McLaren also had a leak that cost them time? A bad setup discission can also cost you half a day at this stage, but we would not see it...upsidedowntoast wrote: ↑12 Feb 2026, 22:28- Playing around with setups is one thing but they've already lost close to a day and a half due to various issues.
No, this is not the way it is. They can change the maps from race to race. They just need to keep one map over all engines after FP3. This is Article C5.23 — Single ICE Mode.Badger wrote: ↑12 Feb 2026, 22:41No, but once the engine is benchmarked you can't change modes without it being discovered by the FIA. Whatever you choose as your benchmark power level when your engine is homologated you will be forced to run the entire year (unless you qualify for ADUO). This should disincentivise major engine sandbagging because it is a massive gamble to lock in a lower power setting for the full year.
I don't know that the FIA does it this way, but they should.
You are partially correct, some parts like torque demand are frozen in homologation. But the part which would translate fuel into power in easy words is not.
So they can use FP1 and FP2 easily to precisely adjust their sandbags every race, just like 2014. It is just Williams that gets screwed by this more than in the past...
Hmm....did Max ever take place in nonsense games? I mean if someone else from the RedBull garage like in 2023 tells us how difficult every race weekend is...but Max? I do not remember him playing these games.upsidedowntoast wrote: ↑13 Feb 2026, 04:19Maybe Max is being straightforward here, or maybe he's just reverse sandbagging after Toto talked up RB yesterday.
