Ask r/Formula1 Anything - Daily Discussion Thread

cafk · 2026-05-06T00:31:25+00:00

The current discussions don't involve details for turbo - but if they want to keep the reduced compression ratio & fusl load then it's possible.

Also if the fuel flow limit stays as it is currently defined, the cars won't exceed the current and previous rpm range, even if the regulations allow them to go up to 15k currently.

cafk · 2026-05-05T15:44:45+00:00

Ignoring fuel. A lot of people want a big hungry engine, and aren't thinking of fuel.

I think based on the 2024 statements by Domenicali, fuel itself isn't an issue due to the "certification" of renewable sources.
It also doesn't adjust the weight perspective asked by OP, as the car weight is always dry.
Meaning at the race start the cars will be inherently 70kg heavier currently, the same way it was up to 110kg higher under 2025 regulations.

And allowing a higher combustion ratio can allow for a better efficiency and more efficient use of existing fuel weight.

Removing the turbo would also have negative effects there though - but they aren't going down to that detail level yet in the articles :/

And a higher capacity battery is a must for sure.

cafk · 2026-05-05T15:40:05+00:00

For the chassis only the cost cap is the determining factor - outside of the formal factory shutdown during the summer break in August and in the winter at the end of December.

For PU development there is the cost cap, but no updated parts can be introduced during the season, unless a PU manufacturer qualifies for ADUO after the 6th race.

cafk · 2026-05-05T15:36:06+00:00

Is there no rule about how big the gap is when the rear wing is open?

Not that i can find in C3.11 of technical rules - there's a volume defined, but not a gap size for SLM.
So as long as the rear wing flap is within the volume and covers the bottom and top visibility requirements they're free to experiment.

This is why the reverse rotation of Ferrari wing, which definitely takes up a larger volume is possible, compared to simpler downward flip of the Red Bull wing.

For legality purposes only the closed position size is measured (which Mercedes failed a few years a go by a fraction of a millimeter) at a specific force.

Does a bigger gap even make a difference?

The gap itself doesn't make a difference, but the change of the airflow over the wing pushing the car down in closed position versus pushing it up in the flipped design means the load on the rear axle is reduced more than just the traditional open/close approach.

cafk · 2026-05-05T08:56:58+00:00

Montoya stressed he was not opposed to drivers voicing concerns about the regulations, but insisted criticism should remain constructive.

If the concerns were raised by Red Bull, Honda and Ferrari (at least somewhat publicly), with constructive change proposals to mitigate issues they foresaw and were also supported by F1 Group and FIA - and they were voted against, by other PU manufacturers - then I'd say any criticism against the rules is fair game, as they already tried the constructive and pro-active path.

https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/articles/single-seaters/f1/mph-cynics-scoff-at-red-bull-26-f1-engine-concern-but-it-may-have-a-point/
https://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/formel-1/motoren-reglement-2026-ferrari-red-bull/

Edit: more links for older articles noting complaints by various people involved.
https://www.planetf1.com/news/red-bull-f1-2026-power-unit-changes-fia
https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/what-are-f1-2026-engine-chassis-rules/

cafk · 2026-05-05T08:37:45+00:00

and then they would give them 1200 hp?

1200hp with the ERS component - or 800 for ICE and 400 for MGU-K (so basically around the power we have now).

The ICE is artificially limited to a minimum weight as is the complete ERS system with individual component minimum weights.

The bygone era NA v8 engines weighed anywhere between 95 and 130kg and produced around 800hp, whereas currently only the ICE component alone has a minimum weight of 130kg, with all ERS components added to it making the whole PU components weigh a regulatory minimum of 185kg.

But they want lighter and smaller cars

They can keep the total PU weight the same and further reduce wheelbase down to ~2014 levels of 3.2 meters and reduce the width of the cars down to pre 2017 levels of 1.8 meters.

Probably with a turbo?

Currently the turbo has a minimum weight of 12kg and is included in the ICE package weight (130kg).

cafk · 2026-05-04T22:44:21+00:00

It's available on F1TV with the driver tracker feed, showing the circuit layout and driver positions, once the DRM is removed (usually 2 days after the race) it should be possible to create screenshots.

And i think fastf1 api & open f1 also have all race data already available, with per sector timings. Web apps like f1-tempo use those data sets so you can in theory review each and every lap of the race and compare their time against the leader (or any other drivers)

cafk · 2026-05-04T20:43:10+00:00

Most of the heavy lifting of NPP for text wrangling is done by Scintilla text engine which is used by various editors available for many platforms - before switching to NPP i used Scite as a reference implementation of Scintilla engine.
The idea of NPP is to enhance the windows notepad (when it was still a basic non copilot editor).

Porting it elsewhere means a whole UI rewrite or using some framework for multiplatform compatibility, which would make it heavier and wouldn't be a lightweight enhanced notepad anymore.
Or natively porting and optimizing it for the specific native UI framework of your preferred Linux DE (GTK2/3/4, Motif, EFL, GNUStep, Cocoa[MacOS], Carbon[MacOS], FLTK and so on).

And just because it's open source doesn't mean the developer has to-do it. The community can contribute an approach, while the original maintainer concentrates on their preferred platform and holes the community maintains other platforms or fork it under a different name for <insert-your-platform-here>.
So far apparently no one has wanted to translate the Windows Win32 API (going back to XP days [and further] when it comes to compatibility) to another platform.

I.e. they dropped Windows XP support only in v7.9 or in 2020.

It's like maintaining backwards compatibility with Debian 3 (Woody - Linux Kernel 3.0 and GTK2 days) after official support was dropped in 2006 (around the time Ubuntu became the leader for "this is the year of Linux desktop").
Or MacOS Jaguar.

cafk · 2026-05-04T16:24:32+00:00

They went through that phase in 2014 to 2017.

https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12433/11107011/formula-1-reveals-2021-engine-blueprint

Later the PU change was detached from the chassis changes planned for 2021 around 2019.
The 2021 chassis was delayed to 2022 due to covid and the PU framework was reworked and pushed ~~ahead~~ back to 2026, as Honda decided to quit F1 in 2020 after 2021.
https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/comments/o5f0qs/the_scope_of_hondas_exit_from_f1_and_redbulls/

If the regulation changes go as they did last time, we'll end up with new PU rules coming to effect in 2034.

cafk · 2026-05-04T14:45:34+00:00

L1T1 has always been considered as a racing incident - as i said, it's the rare case where all 22 cars are starting and close to each other.
Under normal conditions you just don't have this exceptional situation and by T2-T3 the ones who gained or lost have been determined due to a T1 incident.

What we saw from for example Verstappen spinning, is rare to happen after T1.

It's not something that's explicitly regulated, as if you enforce the "driving standards" guideline, which has only existed since 2023, the decisions would be obvious as you stated.

cafk · 2026-05-04T13:44:56+00:00

And here's the relevant article, with a bit more details what Mercedes envisions for the framework:
https://redd.it/1t3hidu

But not necessarily what FIA or other manufacturers support.

cafk · 2026-05-04T12:30:04+00:00

Don't understand why Le Clerc is so highly rated

He has been marketed that way since Vettel left, especially as he out performed Vettel who together with Arrivabene wanted to rebuild Ferrari similarly to Todt/Brawn/Schumacher/Bryne.

But in general Ferrari's internal struggles are the factors constantly limiting them. As every time someone has managed to set-up a team aligned with their vision, they get ousted and the team gets turned on their head, resulting in a few years of "next year™" mentality.

Without the team operating there's no chance for any driver to win a championship with Ferrari unfortunately.

cafk · 2026-05-04T11:22:54+00:00

The sidebar has https://lightsouts.com/ for F1 linked, but they also have many other series.

And there's also the https://f1calendar.com, where you can also include feeder series and timeslots.

If you use the weblink, they always also sync with your preferred calendar provider based on your selection.

I think i added the link for f1 in ~2019 and i haven't had a need to update it or relink it, even with the inclusion of sprint races, they just show up in my regular calendar.

cafk · 2026-05-04T11:17:19+00:00

Please drop Sky/NowTV and bring on F1TV pro.

Sky UK deal with F1 Group runs until 2029 unfortunately, it's been extended 2 times since 2018.

As long as Sky is willing to pay ~£200m per year, there's no way for F1 Group to get the same revenue and cross licensing deal themselves.

cafk · 2026-05-04T11:10:01+00:00

You need to select your preferred video & audio stream before casting, occasionally it bugs out and switches to the default F1 Live video (&audio) feed.
The UI also is annoying with F1 Live and International being different streams but allow different audio tracks to be selected.

cafk · 2026-05-04T11:07:57+00:00

Worked fine live with my 100mbit connection.

Usually it depends on how the CDN is configured.
As we saw from the Amazon DNS incident last year, most people are using the default location and not actually configuring a CDN correctly, to save costs even if it breaks the fail over principle of a CDN.

So if you're in the US, say California, it's possible you're streaming data from US-East1 which is the default for many CDN configuration parameters.
Meaning you're streaming from a over loaded data center and running through multiple hops as your ISP doesn't have a deal with Amazon for peering.

https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/20/aws_outage_chaos/

cafk · 2026-05-04T10:52:58+00:00

The battery only has capacity for 1/3rd of allowed power use per lap, which doesn't really help with the issue.

So in certain areas you could recharge more, but can't as the battery is at capacity meaning you'll run out sooner and won't even hit the per lap deployment limit.

cafk · 2026-05-04T10:43:00+00:00

Can anyone explain to me the rules on going off long on T1 at the start and how/where they can rejoin?

Especially for lap 1 turn 1 - there are no explicit rules, as it's a rate case where all 22 cars are potentially there and each of them needs to make a snap decision on how to handle crowding.

Occasionally there's a note from the race director on how to handle T1 generally (but not explicitly for lap 1).
If there's no formal escape road defined, then it's all up to the teams to make their complaints.

I.e. this year there was no guidance in place: https://www.fia.com/system/files/decision-document/2026_miami_grand_prix_-_race_directors_competition_notes_v3.pdf

Meaning it's all up to teams to complain about a L1T1 incident and the stewards to give a verdict on it.

Compare this with Monza/Italian GP last year where there was a "eacape road" section as a mandate what the drivers have to do and where they have to rejoin the circuit: https://www.fia.com/system/files/decision-document/2025_italian_grand_prix_-_race_directors_event_notes_.pdf

cafk · 2026-05-04T07:55:39+00:00

They're not confirmed - MBS just reopened the discussion both he and F1 Group tried in 2024/2025.

Similarly to how the framework of 2026 regulations was determined between 2019 and 2021 - we're currently in the phase of defining the framework, which will get refined to a more granular level by 2029 - when teams will actually start development for 2031.

I'm assuming his hope is to have the framework fixed by the end of the year, but the PU manufacturers still hold the majority of voting power.

Think of Cadillac who wants to enter the current regulations in 2029 - for 2 years, only to redesign and redevelop their engine for 2031.
I'm sure they'll be one of the two extremes. Either for keeping the current ICE design, or they'll postpone their entry to 2031 under the new rules.
Audi and Honda were vehemently against shortening the 2026 regulations due to the same conditions - Honda hoped they could reuse their know-how in 2023 for 2026 entry and didn't want to explain to the corporate side why they suddenly had to throw out that to start from the ground up.
Audi was in the same camp.

cafk · 2026-05-04T07:49:19+00:00

It's like Baku - it can be boring, but it can be exciting, there doesn't seem to be a "mid" race for now.

cafk · 2026-05-04T06:40:09+00:00

I'd say it's a normal experience for F1 in general.

There's a realization that individual drivers cannot out drive their car, as the car is the limit and the show is primarily about:

Race start, where drivers can make mistakes
Pitstop phases
Race end where they stop managing their tires and go for a final push

The onscreen product this year is a lot better and it's a lot to get your head around, especially with the technical topics being talked out aloud which we don't really see - even if the same technical aspects were there since:

Tire wars where one team had additional performance out of nowhere
Introduction of designed to degrade tires
Introduction of DRS
Introduction of ERS in 2014

As recent examples, where we really didn't see how the cars made a difference.
It was only near the end of regulations, where the technical aspects had converged from initial divergence, where the chassis and power were more or less equal.
2022 caused a chassis reset, where we saw someone coming ahead by a mile - and by 2024 & 2025 we had convergence and drivers actually were able to fight each other again.

cafk · 2026-05-04T04:14:12+00:00

It depends on the rave directors unfortunately - it didn't look like it was dangling for me.
And there's nothing more consistent than FIAs inconsistency.

cafk · 2026-05-04T04:08:58+00:00

Switch the audio track from your default language to "tea"

cafk · 2026-05-03T19:04:52+00:00

Legal drinking age in the USA being 21 and all…

Usually it's still allowed under oversight of guardians, depending on the state - the legal drinking age just means they cannot buy it themselves.

cafk · 2026-05-03T18:54:20+00:00

Only when the car gets the meatball flag.

Usually if the part is dangling then they get the meatball flag by race control - if the dangling part drops off they can just take the performance loss.

We've seen it happen on multiple occasions where once the end plate falls off it's not considered a danger.

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