2026 F1 Cars - General Thread

[mzso]

Discussing ai "enhanced" images is very silly. It's not enhancing anything, it's just making up the details.

Yeah, that's nonsense. Clearly the sidepods are huge in reality.

any chance thats an opening?

To me it seems like a shadow/reflection that moves around as the car turns.

[vorticism]

Some guesses at what we’ll see in a couple of months:

Front pushrod. The front wing pressure distribution has changed. The largest part of the wing is now outboard, the opposite of the 2022 formula which had the largest part of the wing inboard. This will alter the flow fields between the front wheels.
...
Rake. The question is how much. The rear wing allowance seems small relative to the size of the front wing, and there are no beam wings. Use rake to increase overall downforce that is necessarily rearward of the front axle. That said--does rake conflict with using higher center of gravity pushrods at the rear.
...

Confirmed on Audi’s car:
https://i.postimg.cc/B6QXSC2J/Screensho ... -01-PM.png

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/G-O6A5WWIAA ... me=900x900

Some guesses at what we’ll see in a couple of months:
...
Rear pushrod. The diffuser is not as tall but the onset of the diffuser remains in approximately the same location as the 2022 formula. It is perhaps better to not risk impinging upon it with pullrod mechanisms, although the higher CoG of a pushrod assembly could conflict with the use of rake.

Confirmed on Audi's car:

[cplchanb]

how come no thread for the audi car yet despite videos of the actual car running?

[matteosc]

[...]

Very conservative side pod openings. These engines will be less efficient and less powerful at the same time. So the big openings are interesting.
[...]

Less efficient would point to more heat losses, especially considering that the power deficit is due mainly to the lower compression ratio (at least in theory). Making less power with similar fuel should result in more heat losses.

Not sure about how the lack of MGU-H affects heating.

[stan_french]

[...]

Very conservative side pod openings. These engines will be less efficient and less powerful at the same time. So the big openings are interesting.
[...]

Less efficient would point to more heat losses, especially considering that the power deficit is due mainly to the lower compression ratio (at least in theory). Making less power with similar fuel should result in more heat losses.

Not sure about how the lack of MGU-H affects heating.

Couldn't this just be a sign of an A-car made for the barcelona test? That is, looking at reliability where they progressively close openings?

I would then imagine that in Bahrain they're going to test the actual side pods they will run. Similar to Mercedes in 2022. Probably not that much to read into, no?

[cplchanb]

https://cdn-6.motorsport.com/images/mgl ... -team.webp


Very interesting interpretation of the wheel cover by audi

[WardenOfTheNorth]

how come no thread for the audi car yet despite videos of the actual car running?

I was wondering the same thing