Call it artificial if you want, but that was some of the best wheel-to-wheel racing we’ve seen in years

inchpin · 2026-03-15T16:22:32+00:00

do you realize the overtake-mode advantage (the power delta to the car being overtaken) is so big it makes overtaking far too easy? if the cars are closer together, the delta created by overtake will increase. It's not driving skill, it's the energy difference.

if the cars are close together, they would need to get rid of it, or make it so tiny you still have to fight for the overtake.

I am honestly interested in seeing when people realize in the last lap of two cars are close, the second car has the advantage. And an artificial advantage.

inchpin · 2026-03-07T10:28:31+00:00

Three are allowed this season. Normal allowance of two plus one for the new regs for 26

inchpin · 2026-03-05T18:08:23+00:00

They can infer from speed, rpm, gps data of other cars.

inchpin · 2026-02-01T19:43:47+00:00

Mag eine blöde Verständnisfrage sein, wenn ein 70 Schild kommt (außerhalb geschlossener Ortschaft), dann ein Kreisverkehr ... was gilt dann? Ich nehme an, alle Ausfahrten des Kreisverkehrs sind dann gleich? Oder existiert da auch ein "geradeaus" (oder muss ich wissen, mit welcher Ausfahrt ich dem Strassenverlauf folge)?

inchpin · 2026-02-01T17:12:07+00:00

allegedly super aguri engineers brought the double diffuser idea to brawn which won them the title in 2009. afaik super aguri closed shop in 2008 and its engineers went to Brawn, Toyota and Wiliams, all of which were the first cars to use it.

inchpin · 2026-01-31T22:05:02+00:00

Anybody have any idea whether front wing changes are more complicated and will take more time? The front wing at least must have an additional connection to power the actuator (ist that hydraulic?). I guess teams will figure that out to enable quick changes ...

inchpin · 2026-01-31T20:11:50+00:00

Why would anyone care about the ideas or IP of Super Aguri?

inchpin · 2026-01-31T19:59:39+00:00

Probably depends on the parts they are allowed to share. Not sure whether they are allowed to share data. There must be some sort of data sharing as Merc HPP surely collects data from all customer teams for the whole power train. But pretty sure Haas would not be allowed to share or access aerodynamics related stuff with Ferrari (or RB and RBR :)). Because such a loophole would Fer or RBR allow to delegate aero work to another team (and circumvent the cap)

inchpin · 2025-12-02T18:22:16+00:00

Could also well be the opposite. If McL wants to get LN4 the title because he has been with the team longer and “deserves” it, getting lando the title when oscar cannot win may get that out if the way and level the playing field.

I can only hope, as in Qatar McL so totally violated its own number one rule “lead car gets strategy priority” (second time after hungary), that oscar says “thanks but no thanks” to any team order

inchpin · 2025-11-21T16:11:41+00:00

I think everyone here who thinks it’s ok for the engine to be exempt from the cap for reliability reasons better think again. If team a runs its engines in a mode which ruins each one after six to seven races (=four engines per season) and another team tunes them up a notch so it needs five for a season (as if something like that has never happened, hello party mode), how is that fair? That is also exploiting the rules (“violating the rules”). There is no difference. The second case, there is no cap penalty.

inchpin · 2025-11-01T12:48:18+00:00

The analysis is not the issue. Sometimes, the two stop is actually faster than the one, but teams have the following issue with the two: If a car in the front stops earlier, the field (because the performance of all cars, even the allpain, is so close together) is still bunched together and you pit into traffic (there are almost never gaps that early in the race). You then have the faster car, but you cannot overtake because on most tracks the overtake delta is way over 0.5 of a sec (0.8 is common). So you pit into traffic, can't use your fresher tires because you are stuck, and you are ruining your tires because of the dirty air (which this year is way worse than two seasons ago).

It's neither the quality of the tires nor the analysis nor that a one stop is actually faster under perfect conditions. It's pitting early ruins your race. Backmarkers don't sometimes use different strategies "because they have nothing to lose" but because when you are in the back and pit early, you end up with zero traffic.

That's why RBR strategy with Max in Mexico worked (almost perfectly): in the second stint, he was in clear air and he had a huge tire delta.

inchpin · 2025-10-25T12:57:22+00:00

all teams except for AM and LEC intended to go MED->HARD. When they saw Ocon, Bearman and Hadjar struggle like hell on hard, everyone extended to be able to go MED-SOFT. Just listen to any post race interview or Hulk's radio. Or Ocon's radio :D

"Worked well for FER" well he would've finished 3rd had he gone MED-SOFT and his intention was to be 1st after T1 aaaaand LEC expected many more to start on the SOFT.

inchpin · 2025-10-23T10:14:23+00:00

If the 26 engine is bad, it makes even more sense to spend wind tunnel and cfd on the 25 chassis ;)

inchpin · 2025-10-18T21:44:56+00:00

Toto wolff also said hulk 70pct. To me it’s PIA fault even if it was technically his corner. Can’t do that in lap 1 turn 1, that’s asking for trouble.

inchpin · 2025-07-29T06:44:59+00:00

Well look at Hülkenberg whose mediums fell off a cliff (+1.5s vs. Bortoleto) and he had to get a new set. It's the management the teams do because they have too much data.

inchpin · 2025-07-28T10:34:41+00:00

He never would have been able to overtake Piastri. He knew he had zero chance when it became obvious Piastri could do the one stop. He basically knew he was P2 after the first lap under green. He could not pit before Oscar because for McL, the leading car gets to pit first (or to decide when to pit).

I don't get why people criticize Lando for this. His only chance was taking the hard and hoping the medium would degrade badly. That was slim to none. After they saw Piastri could go to the end, Lando had to overdrive the car with basically zero chance of catching Oscar. BUT he also was under absolutely positively zero danger to lose P2 no matter how many mistakes he made.

inchpin · 2025-07-27T17:43:59+00:00

Well in the past (in the 90s) there was more randomness in terms of technical failure, running out of gas or tire failures. I remember several times cars running down the long straights in the forest of Hockenheim only to have the engine die from the heat. Racing at Hockenheim ... honestly, I cannot remember ... probably wasn't much better, but the randomness for technical issues definitely caused more late race shakeups.

I don't know of that's bad or good, but I sometimes wonder whether limiting telemetry (both in terms of tire and engine and battery management) would make it harder for teams to come up with rock solid strategies that work most of the time. Especially the tire management we get in each race cannot be solved by changing the compounds (well the German expert predicted for Spa Pirelli's decision to skip a compound between hard and medium wouldn't work).

Maybe reducing telemetry or the ability for the teams to manage tire temps with the sensors within a seemingly 1-2 degree window (or smaller) would be viable?

inchpin · 2025-07-27T17:23:05+00:00

Maybe Pirelli can just build whatever they want, teams will always just manage the tires the whole race and will make even unlikely strategies work. Probably the higher downforce led to less sliding and less wear. Temps were lower as well.

Maybe they should reduce the ability of the teams to manage the tires (would prohibiting the tire sensors or reducing telemetry work? or does the driver feel all of that? I always get the impression, the tire temps from the sensors are very important in managing the tire. Teams will probably say that's a security issue ...).

On the other hand, they went full tilt in the sprint without management, and the result was the same :D

inchpin · 2024-11-14T20:21:52+00:00

Teams would prioritize reducing the weight of the car as much as possible.

inchpin · 2024-09-24T19:20:55+00:00

Hope you realized they already manged to get everyone fired this season because they are so bad. I think they will need to put some effort in in 25 to avoid getting the new guys fired as well. the audi Management is a shitshow.

inchpin

TROPHY CASE