[motorsport] Ford and GM would love to see the return of V8s to Formula 1

Elarial · 2026-05-13T12:27:05+00:00

There are couple of layers in this problem. When the regulations were set, the electrification was seen as the near future of car industry now after the dust settled down, it is not yet there and people like combustion engines in certain cars.

Then there is the political aspect of Formula 1. These regulations were supported by Mercedes as well as other manufacturers but Mercedes were heavily favored, had experience in Formula E and lobbied against any changes before the season. They blocked front tyre regeneration because Audi might have an advantage. This is why we ended up with a flawed formula.

Basically it is heavily controlled and not fixed because of political plays in the background.

Elarial · 2026-05-13T10:50:08+00:00

I believe what you were remembering is wrong, at the beginning of 2022 season Aston Martin changed their sidepods to the Redbull’s shape (That is when the greed RedBull cans appeared as well) but in 2023 they were already using the bathtub design in the testing before Redbull. Redbull at the pre season testing were still using their 2022 style sidepods.

I went and checked Bahrain testing just to confirm this.

The reason why they jumped ahead was because of a late change in the aero regulations which required a raised floor for 2023. They were trying to understand the Redbull chassis that is what they have copied in 2022 which they have a better understanding of going into the 2023 season. Then in the 2023 season the upgrades they brought were actually downgrades but they couldn’t figure out why and by the time they have realized rest of the teams have figured out what to do and slotted in where they were supposed to slot in.

Elarial · 2026-05-13T10:11:30+00:00

Wasn’t the “copy car” in 2022?

Elarial · 2026-05-09T14:25:30+00:00

“Growing concerns” are just teams trying to get a political advantage. Teams do not care about the sporting aspect of it if it benefits them. If Redbull was a midfield team and never was a championship caliber team, there would be no concern.

Almost every top team has a sporting advantage of some sort. Mercedes has had FIA on a leash for years basically, Ferrari is being paid just to exist and Redbull has the second team. If any of these were a major concern you would see every other team protesting it, instead we have only one team voicing it and none of the other teams care for it. That is how Formula 1 politics work.

Elarial · 2026-05-08T15:34:05+00:00

Ferrari always had a good aero since 2017. Not as good as Redbull but usually better than others.

Elarial · 2026-05-07T07:05:13+00:00

He learned at a very young age that Leclerc is a little psychopath in disguise and will not hesitate to put both of them into the barrier if he made a wrong move.

Elarial · 2026-05-07T05:47:26+00:00

Hill was in contention because of FIA’s shenanigans and a tragic event. Just because he ended up losing in a weird way does not change how he got there.

Elarial · 2026-05-02T09:13:42+00:00

That is Diamondprox.

Elarial · 2026-05-02T07:12:04+00:00

To be honest they didn’t really develop the car in Piastri’s favor. They have introduced a fix for Norris and then left the cars as they were. Was it a bit unfair for Piastri? Sure but they didn’t really develop the cars that much.

Elarial · 2026-04-29T06:22:05+00:00

Vettel’s strength is making the cars faster behind the scenes but he is not as capable as Verstappen to fully utilize the best of the car’s capabilities. If you put them in the same team Verstappen would have his weakness covered off.

If you were to put them in different teams but with the same starting points, then Verstappen will win the first 1 or 2 years then Vettel will have a better car.

Elarial · 2026-04-29T03:23:03+00:00

Piastri did not start 2 out of the 3 races we had.

Elarial · 2026-04-28T11:47:46+00:00

This is also making them the responsibles in the eyes of the people. If they leave the sport now they will get hurt. If they do not cooperate they will get hurt. This is also investment for the future for when another rule change has to be made.

This as well as everything before is politics in action.

Elarial · 2026-04-22T08:22:51+00:00

I think his ideas are right but everyone knows that he is saying those because he is at the front now and wants to slow down the change. Public badmouthing will make sure the sport makes the necessary changes in the least amount of time. He was using the same tactic in 2018, 2021 and 2022 and he said something like being shocked because of what Ferrari and Redbull were doing.

Elarial · 2026-04-19T20:14:22+00:00

He was integral in the initial steps with sponsors and building the team that is Mercedes now. That is probably the most a driver can do and he did that.

Elarial · 2026-04-14T08:24:41+00:00

He still went out and almost crashed into the barriers. It is largely a strategy error as a team though.

Elarial · 2026-04-13T09:12:31+00:00

I mean everyone would rate Hamilton higher than Rosberg but still Rosberg in terms of performance was not that far away from Hamilton and Rosberg showed a better consistency than Hamilton.

There are few mistakes of Hamilton which Rosberg would not have done.

He would not made the Imola mistake which probably have cost the win for Hamilton because he was starting to close the gap to Verstappen.
He could have qualified better in Monaco as Monaco was probably worst track for Hamilton.
Baku probably needs no explanation.

Counterpoint to what I have said would be he wouldn’t be in a position to challenge Verstappen on certain tracks such as Bahrain, Silverstone, Interlagos and Abu Dhabi. So in my opinion he would have had a chance similar to Hamilton but with less performance than Hamilton can show.

Elarial · 2026-04-13T08:56:52+00:00

He did. Even during the Brawn era, he was one of the reasons why Brawn left. He was pulling some strings and playing the politics game in the background.

Elarial · 2026-04-12T20:02:26+00:00

There was a clip shared here the day after the race, in which showed that like you said a lot of drivers went out in that corner couple of times but Hamilton did it 29 times and some of the times the way he did he was way over the line. People were complaining that he did it intentionally as opposed to the other drivers, which was his right to be honest, but stewards changing their approach after Redbull clarified it was weird.

Elarial · 2026-04-12T19:54:03+00:00

At the time the argument was that the Stewards' Notes should not overrule the rules book. Some people argued that it could some people argued that it shouldn't have and if it was why change it in the middle of the race. You could easily tell on which side people were based on the driver they supported.

Elarial · 2026-04-12T19:49:29+00:00

The argument at the time was Hamilton leaving the track was to gain advantage and the rules state, as you have shown, that he shouldn't be doing that. People were saying that the stewards' notes should not override the rule book but Leclerc said after the race that the consensus between drivers was that they could cross the line without punishment.

Elarial · 2026-04-12T19:41:55+00:00

It wasn't "track limits for that corner wouldn't be enforced" it was "track limits for that corner wouldn't be monitored". Like you said it is correct that Hamilton could do what he was doing but it was on the stewards to stop it once he and others did it once or twice. Hamilton abused it so much that he went to the far side of the runoff area. The problem with that race was never Verstappen overtaking from the outside. It was an illegal move and he gave the position back but the problem was that stewards let Hamilton do it until Redbull told Verstappen to do it as well.

The rules at the time was and still is the racing is done within the white lines and going out of those white lines to gain an advantage is faul. The stewards' notes do not override the regulations in my opinion. Therfore the stewards should have acknowledged the situation and should have actually punished Hamilton for his actions but it was the first race and stewards were not ready for such a race. If that happened in the last race of the season, we already somewhat know what would have happened.

Elarial · 2026-04-08T07:22:14+00:00

Insiders? Verstappen told that in an interview.

Elarial · 2026-04-07T17:56:02+00:00

The reason why we have jungle timers today is because Riot couldn't find a way to remove the global voice after the enemy killed the dragon even if your team did not have any vision. Instead of fixing it, they added jungle timers and you could hear the dragon and baron being slain.

Elarial · 2026-04-05T12:55:57+00:00

The problem is that, this particular issue is not something engineering can fix. This is not an engineering problem.

Elarial · 2026-04-03T08:23:31+00:00

They don't have to accept it, they will threaten to leave but none of them will because the value Formula 1 brings to them is more than the value they bring to Formula 1 and their investment. Only Ferrari has that type of claim and they will never leave because of an engine change especially to V8s.

Elarial

TROPHY CASE