2026 Japanese Grand Prix - Suzuka, March 27 - 29

[LM10]

Q: "What you would like to see changed before Miami?”
Lando: “There's no point of saying it, honestly. It doesn't matter what we [drivers] say. As long as the fans enjoy it, that's all that matters”
Q: “The drivers need to enjoy it as well”
Lando: Clearly not.”

Bruh...

“Formula 1 changes all the time. Sometimes it’s a bit better to drive, sometimes it’s not as good to drive.

“But we get paid a stupid amount of money to drive, so you can’t really complain at the end of the day.

“Any driver can go and find something else to do. It’s not like he has to be here or any driver has to be here. It’s a challenge, but it’s a good, fun challenge for the engineers, for the drivers. It’s different.

“You have to drive it in a different way and understand things differently and manage things differently, but I still get to drive cars and travel the world and have a lot of fun. So no, nothing to complain about.”

Honestly Norris should just shut his pie hole. He has lost all credibility after these comments.

The quote you posted was from Thursday in Australia, if I’m not mistaken. The other quote is after Suzuka.

Probably Norris still had some faith before the season officially kicked in, but after things started settling down and he saw the racing under competitive conditions, he’s just witnessed the dilemma.

[basti313]

A Car fitted with NA V10 engine wouldn't need silly active aero systems, which is nothing but a cheap quick fix to cover holes caused by pathetic pu formula . Active aero does literally hamper racing and overtaking making it much less probable. It is beneficial for a defender, detrimental for an attacker, makes defending a position much easier and is directly opposed to the aim the FOM and the FIA allegedly set- more and easier overtaking and better racing.

I think this is the big issue. Slipstream is simply not there anymore. It helps on certain tracks with energy management, but you can not overtake by using the slipstream.

I fear, that the future of this ruleset showed up between McLaren and Merc. Russel could not overtake Piastri although he had much, much more pace in the car (0.4sec visible, 0.7s presumably if we look at Ant times and Rus being about 0.3s slower). So once the differences between these engines vanish, there will be no overtaking anymore. Yes, there might be some Yo-Yo because of energy deployment being far off...but really geting past and staying ahead will not be there.
I fear this will be much worse than DRS once the engine concepts converge. Without the current mushrooms and bananas overtaking will be gone.

Fully agree with your analysis. Exactly my worry as well.

Many overtakes yesterday were due to engine gremlins (including the ones on Hamilton and where Russell lost to HAM). It was basically a big boost mode train after the safety car. As soon as teams converge and fix their starts it will only get worse.

The issue with these regs is that tyre deg is almost no issue for now. So less differences between teams there. And because in the high speed corners they are all clipping you cannot decide to use your tyres a bit more to be closer for the DRS overtake. You are basically a passenger of the software.

Yes, tires are also much, much too hard for not using them in the corners.

[aMessageToCharlie]

Q: "What you would like to see changed before Miami?”
Lando: “There's no point of saying it, honestly. It doesn't matter what we [drivers] say. As long as the fans enjoy it, that's all that matters”
Q: “The drivers need to enjoy it as well”
Lando: Clearly not.”

Bruh...

“Formula 1 changes all the time. Sometimes it’s a bit better to drive, sometimes it’s not as good to drive.

“But we get paid a stupid amount of money to drive, so you can’t really complain at the end of the day.

“Any driver can go and find something else to do. It’s not like he has to be here or any driver has to be here. It’s a challenge, but it’s a good, fun challenge for the engineers, for the drivers. It’s different.

“You have to drive it in a different way and understand things differently and manage things differently, but I still get to drive cars and travel the world and have a lot of fun. So no, nothing to complain about.”

Honestly Norris should just shut his pie hole. He has lost all credibility after these comments.

The quote you posted was from Thursday in Australia, if I’m not mistaken. The other quote is after Suzuka.

Probably Norris still had some faith before the season officially kicked in, but after things started settling down and he saw the racing under competitive conditions, he’s just witnessed the dilemma.

No, he just wanted to suck up to the corporation and lay it on Verstappen for speaking out.

On Thursday, at the second pre-season test, Norris said: "I just didn't want to come out into the media and complain to everyone on the first weekend back.

"I just wanted to say that and see what the reaction was of everyone."

[avantman]

Actually think these active aero cars with V10s would be absolutely insane

A Car fitted with NA V10 engine wouldn't need silly active aero systems, which is nothing but a cheap quick fix to cover holes caused by pathetic pu formula . Active aero does literally hamper racing and overtaking making it much less probable. It is beneficial for a defender, detrimental for an attacker, makes defending a position much easier and is directly opposed to the aim the FOM and the FIA allegedly set- more and easier overtaking and better racing.

I think this is the big issue. Slipstream is simply not there anymore. It helps on certain tracks with energy management, but you can not overtake by using the slipstream.

I fear, that the future of this ruleset showed up between McLaren and Merc. Russel could not overtake Piastri although he had much, much more pace in the car (0.4sec visible, 0.7s presumably if we look at Ant times and Rus being about 0.3s slower). So once the differences between these engines vanish, there will be no overtaking anymore. Yes, there might be some Yo-Yo because of energy deployment being far off...but really geting past and staying ahead will not be there.
I fear this will be much worse than DRS once the engine concepts converge. Without the current mushrooms and bananas overtaking will be gone.

Indeed, slipstreaming is a cornerstone of any motor racing, has always been wherever you look at, be it go karting, motogp, gt racing and of course F1 up until 2022 and that ridiculous regulation set. How can it not be clear that proper real racing cannot be possible when tow barely gives any benefit in terminal velocity and time gain.
It hurts my souls nobody from F1 circus (be it teams or the media) has been talking about that as a huge issue and completely wrong direction F1 has taken. All the efficiency nonsense talks instead, how cool that it is to have active aero. This is simply ridiculous.

[AR3-GP]

The artificial back-and-forth nature of the hollow racing battles that we’ve seen across the opening weekends is perfect fodder for social media feeds, which lends itself well to presenting F1 as incredibly entertaining excitement, which resulted in a small quietening of discontent after a relatively engaging Chinese Grand Prix.

But, despite the showbiz aspect, and against the backdrop of an incredible amount of online and social negativity as well as driver criticism, it’s also important that the sport’s broadcasters and media shine a light, responsibly, on the negative aspects these regulations have introduced.

Bizarrely, the UK broadcaster Sky F1 and its crew have elected against doing this and, instead, suggest that every pass is a display of breathtaking skill, and that lifting off to go faster is, in fact, a new and interesting way to go racing.

It is not. While the back-and-forth may make for somewhat entertaining viewing, the sport has changed fundamentally to little more than an inane spectacle, and sources have suggested to PlanetF1.com that the deeper-rooted issues are playing a secondary role of importance when it comes to commercial considerations between the rights holder and broadcasters – something that was borne out by the prominent promotion of the Mario Kart movie on the grid at Suzuka, a move that seems utterly juvenile at a time when the sport is struggling to be taken seriously.

It’s an interesting editorial choice Sky has taken, made all the more intriguing by the wealth of experienced former racing drivers on its presenting panel, enthusing about the regulations in ways that the active racing drivers are decidedly not.

https://www.planetf1.com/news/oliver-be ... -criticism

[basti313]

It hurts my souls nobody from F1 circus (be it teams or the media) has been talking about that as a huge issue and completely wrong direction F1 has taken. All the efficiency nonsense talks instead, how cool that it is to have active aero. This is simply ridiculous.

Well...you have Mercedes and soon McLaren at the front. Two of the main speakers/voices in F1.
Ferrari is clearly more critical...but might see their own chances still.
RedBull is falling appart. Verstappen is super critical, but that looks like just a bad loser.
And generally...if you want to have the money, you need to keep the show going.

For Sky UK....they have a British WDC or a new bad guy upcoming. Nothing to lose for them, perfect setup. Why should they be critical? And they also do not want to talk $hit as they also do not want to lose viewers. We are stuck in this sh.. show for the next 4? years.

[BMMR61]

I personally think we need to engage our minds more than is usual with a radical rule change, the likes of which has NEVER been seen in the 76 years of F1. By this I mean, shouting and berating is not going to move things, and multiple, complex issues are still being discovered. Like, how can the current version (2.0?) of 2026 work if Spa or Canada (for example) produces drizzly weather and the demon "superclipping" isn't drastically reduced or eliminated. Anyone here remember the giant rear end smash of Schumacher on Coulthard at Spa? Personally I think this whole rule set is an abomination but I'm prepared to accept that with some much bigger changes to v2.0 we could see some meaningful and safer racing this year.

[hollus]

In a proper rainy race the cars would spend a lot, a huge lot more time braking and at partial throttle. So perhaps there would be no need for superclipping at all. Or not, just guessing by gut feeling. I am sure some circumstances would still make it important sometimes even then.

[mzso]

Actually think these active aero cars with V10s would be absolutely insane

A Car fitted with NA V10 engine wouldn't need silly active aero systems, which is nothing but a cheap quick fix to cover holes caused by pathetic pu formula . Active aero does literally hamper racing and overtaking making it much less probable. It is beneficial for a defender, detrimental for an attacker, makes defending a position much easier and is directly opposed to the aim the FOM and the FIA allegedly set- more and easier overtaking and better racing.

I think this is the big issue. Slipstream is simply not there anymore. It helps on certain tracks with energy management, but you can not overtake by using the slipstream.

I fear, that the future of this ruleset showed up between McLaren and Merc. Russel could not overtake Piastri although he had much, much more pace in the car (0.4sec visible, 0.7s presumably if we look at Ant times and Rus being about 0.3s slower). So once the differences between these engines vanish, there will be no overtaking anymore. Yes, there might be some Yo-Yo because of energy deployment being far off...but really geting past and staying ahead will not be there.
I fear this will be much worse than DRS once the engine concepts converge. Without the current mushrooms and bananas overtaking will be gone.

I think increasing the scope of overtake mode might help. Increase the recoverable energy even more. However with so much clipping required it would be hard to without decreasing deployment.

[basti313]

but I'm prepared to accept that with some much bigger changes to v2.0 we could see some meaningful and safer racing this year.

Do you think "bigger changes" are possible? I doubt they can change a lot...

In a proper rainy race the cars would spend a lot, a huge lot more time braking and at partial throttle. So perhaps there would be no need for superclipping at all. Or not, just guessing by gut feeling. I am sure some circumstances would still make it important sometimes even then.

I fear these cars will be horrible to drive in the rain. No one could exit the last corner with some dirty air in front in a decent way. There we saw how much overpowered these cars are.

Sounds actually good as it will be a huge separator...but it will be problematic as too many drivers will just bin it.

I think increasing the scope of overtake mode might help. Increase the recoverable energy even more. However with so much clipping required it would be hard to without decreasing deployment.

Yes, that is the problem.
To fix this formula they need to go down on the deployment. The deployment in general does not matter, does not make any good racing or anything interesting. I do not even know why they should keep it. They anyways cut it at certain speeds, just go down further. Then the overtake button can work and every bit less deployment results in them pushing the corners more.
I do not understand why they are so keen on certain laptimes. No one cares if the laptime is 5sec faster or slower.

[PlatinumZealot]

A Car fitted with NA V10 engine wouldn't need silly active aero systems, which is nothing but a cheap quick fix to cover holes caused by pathetic pu formula . Active aero does literally hamper racing and overtaking making it much less probable. It is beneficial for a defender, detrimental for an attacker, makes defending a position much easier and is directly opposed to the aim the FOM and the FIA allegedly set- more and easier overtaking and better racing.

I think this is the big issue. Slipstream is simply not there anymore. It helps on certain tracks with energy management, but you can not overtake by using the slipstream.

I fear, that the future of this ruleset showed up between McLaren and Merc. Russel could not overtake Piastri although he had much, much more pace in the car (0.4sec visible, 0.7s presumably if we look at Ant times and Rus being about 0.3s slower). So once the differences between these engines vanish, there will be no overtaking anymore. Yes, there might be some Yo-Yo because of energy deployment being far off...but really geting past and staying ahead will not be there.
I fear this will be much worse than DRS once the engine concepts converge. Without the current mushrooms and bananas overtaking will be gone.

Indeed, slipstreaming is a cornerstone of any motor racing, has always been wherever you look at, be it go karting, motogp, gt racing and of course F1 up until 2022 and that ridiculous regulation set. How can it not be clear that proper real racing cannot be possible when tow barely gives any benefit in terminal velocity and time gain.
It hurts my souls nobody from F1 circus (be it teams or the media) has been talking about that as a huge issue and completely wrong direction F1 has taken. All the efficiency nonsense talks instead, how cool that it is to have active aero. This is simply ridiculous.

Can't have your cake and eat it. Slipstream is gaining on car in front whose engine is being overpowered by air resistance... So you're bringing this back to the problem DRS was solving... to help a car slipstream better (and DRS train the ugly side-effect)

[PlatinumZealot]

but I'm prepared to accept that with some much bigger changes to v2.0 we could see some meaningful and safer racing this year.

Do you think "bigger changes" are possible? I doubt they can change a lot...

In a proper rainy race the cars would spend a lot, a huge lot more time braking and at partial throttle. So perhaps there would be no need for superclipping at all. Or not, just guessing by gut feeling. I am sure some circumstances would still make it important sometimes even then.

I fear these cars will be horrible to drive in the rain. No one could exit the last corner with some dirty air in front in a decent way. There we saw how much overpowered these cars are.

Sounds actually good as it will be a huge separator...but it will be problematic as too many drivers will just bin it.

I think increasing the scope of overtake mode might help. Increase the recoverable energy even more. However with so much clipping required it would be hard to without decreasing deployment.

Yes, that is the problem.
To fix this formula they need to go down on the deployment. The deployment in general does not matter, does not make any good racing or anything interesting. I do not even know why they should keep it. They anyways cut it at certain speeds, just go down further. Then the overtake button can work and every bit less deployment results in them pushing the corners more.
I do not understand why they are so keen on certain laptimes. No one cares if the laptime is 5sec faster or slower.

The 50% electrification was a HUUUGE selling point for this formula. Very political to drop down...

[gearboxtrouble]

No amount of minor tinkering will fix anything as long as this obsession with 50/50 (or thereabouts) stays. The fundamental issue with these regs is there just isn't enough energy input over a lap from braking alone to make a 50% battery rational. Yeah lico was there last season but that only dropped power from ~1000 hp to ~930 hp because the ICE was 850hp and the MGUH provided a constant 80hp on top at full boost. In 26 you can only access 1000hp for at best 11s a lap. The rest of time you're either at 550hp when on ICE only or 250 hp when superclipping. The driver will ask for full throttle and see a 750hp wide range in what's actually delivered to the wheels depending on what the car decides is optimal. That's insanity in any rational sense. The ICE needs to be a minimum of 75% of the 1000hp to make the math at all feasible for most tracks and the dropoff less problematic. There should be ECU level blocks on superclipping and lico - only allow harvesting from braking. You can have a (questionably successful) marketing exercise that makes the on track product a farce or you can have a motorsport that's able to hold on to all the hard won viewers over the last 5 years. You can not have both. I'd suggest the whole marketing aspect could actually become negative marketing once people see these cars choose to take Copse and Eau Rogue at 200kph because the algo decided it was optimal - 130R is a pretty clear pointer.

[Chuckjr]

but I'm prepared to accept that with some much bigger changes to v2.0 we could see some meaningful and safer racing this year.

Do you think "bigger changes" are possible? I doubt they can change a lot...

In a proper rainy race the cars would spend a lot, a huge lot more time braking and at partial throttle. So perhaps there would be no need for superclipping at all. Or not, just guessing by gut feeling. I am sure some circumstances would still make it important sometimes even then.

I fear these cars will be horrible to drive in the rain. No one could exit the last corner with some dirty air in front in a decent way. There we saw how much overpowered these cars are.

Sounds actually good as it will be a huge separator...but it will be problematic as too many drivers will just bin it.

I think increasing the scope of overtake mode might help. Increase the recoverable energy even more. However with so much clipping required it would be hard to without decreasing deployment.

Yes, that is the problem.
To fix this formula they need to go down on the deployment. The deployment in general does not matter, does not make any good racing or anything interesting. I do not even know why they should keep it. They anyways cut it at certain speeds, just go down further. Then the overtake button can work and every bit less deployment results in them pushing the corners more.
I do not understand why they are so keen on certain laptimes. No one cares if the laptime is 5sec faster or slower.

+1 basti.

IMO, do that now or something similar to jerryrig it for quick fix, and then next year go to 70:30 to begin the process of moving more towards ICE for power and a small battery package for the few intangibles batteries bring. Hopefully get to 80:20 and lighter, shorter, more nimble, less bulky cars by new regs in 4 years. Dare to dream.

[FittingMechanics]

No amount of minor tinkering will fix anything as long as this obsession with 50/50 (or thereabouts) stays. The fundamental issue with these regs is there just isn't enough energy input over a lap from braking alone to make a 50% battery rational. Yeah lico was there last season but that only dropped power from ~1000 hp to ~930 hp because the ICE was 850hp and the MGUH provided a constant 80hp on top at full boost. In 26 you can only access 1000hp for at best 11s a lap. The rest of time you're either at 550hp when on ICE only or 250 hp when superclipping. The driver will ask for full throttle and see a 750hp wide range in what's actually delivered to the wheels depending on what the car decides is optimal. That's insanity in any rational sense. The ICE needs to be a minimum of 75% of the 1000hp to make the math at all feasible for most tracks and the dropoff less problematic. There should be ECU level blocks on superclipping and lico - only allow harvesting from braking. You can have a (questionably successful) marketing exercise that makes the on track product a farce or you can have a motorsport that's able to hold on to all the hard won viewers over the last 5 years. You can not have both. I'd suggest the whole marketing aspect could actually become negative marketing once people see these cars choose to take Copse and Eau Rogue at 200kph because the algo decided it was optimal - 130R is a pretty clear pointer.

I just don't get this. 50:50 split is not a problem. That is peak power. If they reduced the recharge limit to a level that can be achieved with braking you would get cars that don't slow down on straights or in the corners but that have high peak power (when MGU-K has energy).

This obsession with reducing peak power is hard to understand. Reducing peak power will not solve any of the issues because these cars are power limited for a way longer time than 20 seconds. So if you reduced MGU-K power to 175 kW, you would still get these cars using energy and rechargeing as much as possible (by superclip/lico). To reach a level where they wouldn't do that you need to get to a level where the MGU-K can run for longer than power limited time on track and that is going to be hard to reach.

Even if you could reach that, all you achieved is
1) much weaker MGU-K, cars much easier to drive as they are low on power
2) no variation between possible power of cars, removing chance of tactical energy fights (yoyo)
3) you could have achieved this by reducing the recharge limit.


50:50 split (or any other split) is perfectly fine, it is just peak power. To avoid most of these "ugly" parts they need to increase the recharge potential (maybe higher power MGU-K for braking) or reduce recharge amount (easy to do).