re: 2026 Formula 1 (F1) Season Thread

So true.

Also, frick Lewis.

I’d like to see him come in for some nascar road races.

Maybe Lando should retire since it's like an F2 car and he doesn't like it

Lots of talk today during testing about how they have to rev the engine for 10 seconds to charge the battery enough to use the turbo at the start.

So yesterday I was watching a replay on F1TV of Day 2 of testing. My first impression was that the cars do look smaller than last year, and I thought they looked cooler. In particular, for some reason I liked the look of the McLaren.

Anthony Davidson was a commentator, and he kept saying that the MGU-H was used to keep the turbo spooled to prevent lag, but now that the MGU-H is gone, drivers have to keep the revs up more at these noticeable times like when they are in the pits. The impression he was giving was that the high revs was only to keep the turbo spooled, but the impression I got from the discussion of Max's technique downshifting to 1st gear on normal 2nd gear corners was for additional power generation.

From the start my impression about the 2026 PUs was that the engine will need to be used to generate electrical power (not just energy recovery from braking), so I did a little research. I found this video that I thought gave a nice explanation of what is going on. For example, when you are in the middle of a corner and are typically at 40% throttle, now you might be at 60% throttle with 20% of that energy going to recharge the battery. So it doesn't affect your lap time, but you are using fuel to charge the battery.

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The teams figuring out this optimal engine output does seem to be catching everyone out at one point or another.

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It seems to me that for every track they go to, they will need to figure out the MGU-K setting for every lift-and-coast zone, brake zone, and mid-corner, to make sure they have all the enegy they need for every lap (while not harming lap time and the ability to attack or defend). It seems like it's going to be a lot of work for FP1 and FP2.

Also, an interesting discussion I heard was about the strategies to deploy battery for attacking and defending. If you deploy full power to pass someone by the end of a straight, you are generating much more power at this point than during a typical lap, so now your brake zone is very different, especially since you're not going to do a lift-and-coast during a passing attempt. I think there's a good chance we're going to see guys overshooting corners a lot whether they are attacking or defending.

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Don't remember if it was here but I came across a comment and video about how the management could lead to developing some sort of traction control. That was a pretty cool link that I am sure some teams are working on.

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Makes sense. Just monitor the change in RPM during accerlation, and if the rate of change suddenly increases by X%, tighten the "clutch" on the MGU-K to sap some of the torque from the engine and generate some juice. It's just a coincidence that traction at the wheels improves.

Saw video of Papa Stroll leaving the track and you talk about a man who looks like someone just shot his dog...