Formula 1 Discussion - And favourite driver?

  • Want to keep track of this thread?
    Accounts can bookmark posts, watch threads for updates, and jump back to where you stopped reading.
    Create account
So the 2026 power unit rules just got formalized and announced. Key highlights:
ICE itself unchanged
Fuel flow restricted significantly
Tighter standardization of design in terms of engine block, pumps, crankshaft, etc
MGU-H thrown into the dumpster where it belongs
MGU-K increased to 350kW max output from previous 120kW
MGU-K and other high voltage lines moved more into the center of the car in an isolated safety cell
"100%" "Sustainable" fuel used from "non-food" biological sources
Still no V10s.

Reminds me of the dreadful old LMP1 rules from the 2010s, and it makes me wonder how Mercedes benefits from all this.
 
Densetsu said:
So the 2026 power unit rules just got formalized and announced. Key highlights:
ICE itself unchanged
Fuel flow restricted significantly
Tighter standardization of design in terms of engine block, pumps, crankshaft, etc
MGU-H thrown into the dumpster where it belongs
MGU-K increased to 350kW max output from previous 120kW
MGU-K and other high voltage lines moved more into the center of the car in an isolated safety cell
"100%" "Sustainable" fuel used from "non-food" biological sources
Still no V10s.

Reminds me of the dreadful old LMP1 rules from the 2010s, and it makes me wonder how Mercedes benefits from all this.
Click to expand...
Dyno time is limited like CFD/wind tunnel time is now. The batteries will also add weight and the peak horsepower won't be available all the time. The official F1 announcement video mentions that turbo lag will be back, presumably when the batteries are drained.
I disagree with you on the MGU-H; its a very innovative piece of tech that drastically improves the efficiency of ICE engines and it would be amazing for it to trickle down to road cars.
Why does F1 want to make worse cars? 99.99% of F1's carbon footprint is because of the logistics; the shipping of equipment and the flying of people all around the world emits far more emissions than the cars do.
 
quaawaa said:
Why does F1 want to make worse cars? 99.99% of F1's carbon footprint is because of the logistics; the shipping of equipment and the flying of people all around the world emits far more emissions than the cars do.
Click to expand...
Because the same bleeding hearts who say F1 needs sustainable fuel and more hybrid systems are the same ones that say electricity to power AC is wasteful, but that same electricity to power a Tesla is environmentally conscious. The same ones that ask how could you possibly be so cruel as to go hunting and kill an animal to eat it, when you could just get meat from the store. The same ones that saw Lewis run away with 7 titles and become a multi millionare, but genuinely believe that the FiA conspired to make Max win because if something bad happens to a nigger its racism. In short: shortsited fools motivated entirely by emotion.

A slightly less cynical view would be to sway public opinion. If people see F1 cars can go hella fast on some concoction of synthetic fuels, then they'll be more likely to accept it when they fill up at the pump.
 
quaawaa said:
I disagree with you on the MGU-H; its a very innovative piece of tech that drastically improves the efficiency of ICE engines and it would be amazing for it to trickle down to road cars.
Click to expand...
MGU-H is part of the reason the current V6T hybrids sound like ass, it fucks the exhaust sound something fierce. Not to mention that the presence of the system always been a reliability concern and price concern, and it has even less applicability to any car than KERS systems which are now becoming commonplace. From what I understand only the Merc AMG One has anything like an MGU-H system in it, and part of the reason is because it adds weight and cost for very little gains. Even on the AMG One it's mostly just a prestige feature since most road cars don't spend enough time at high enough revs to make the efficiency gains worth it.
 
Things Better Forgotten said:
A slightly less cynical view would be to sway public opinion. If people see F1 cars can go hella fast on some concoction of synthetic fuels, then they'll be more likely to accept it when they fill up at the pump.
Click to expand...
I mean, really, I don't give a shit where the car-go-wroom-juice comes from, if it's Dino-based or something some nerd made in a beaker. As long as it's cheap and doesn't fuck my engine (fuck E10 fuels).
 
Densetsu said:
MGU-H is part of the reason the current V6T hybrids sound like ass, it fucks the exhaust sound something fierce. Not to mention that the presence of the system always been a reliability concern and price concern, and it has even less applicability to any car than KERS systems which are now becoming commonplace. From what I understand only the Merc AMG One has anything like an MGU-H system in it, and part of the reason is because it adds weight and cost for very little gains. Even on the AMG One it's mostly just a prestige feature since most road cars don't spend enough time at high enough revs to make the efficiency gains worth it.
Click to expand...

Pretty much this. The MGU-K harvests during braking and gives a boost for setting off and accelerating in modern cars. The MGU-H harvests when accelerating hard and only really gives back by spinning up the turbo when accelerating out of a corner.

At steady 30-70 mph speeds an MGU-H would neither harvest nor deploy particularly effectively. You aren't accelerating hard in general except maybe to get upto motorway speeds for harvesting, Nor would it really benefit on set off because unless you're a cunt you're not going WOT from the lights. It's pretty much only useful on a track and for motorsport.

MGU-K however does a great job at harvesting with city driving with all the brake usage and a great job at deploying for setting off where a lot of fuel is wasted in city driving.

Here's a handy graphic of how the MGU-H and MGU-K work using Barcelona as an example.

6a00d8341c4fbe53ef019b0521240b970d-800wi.jpg
 
RomanesEuntDomus said:
I mean, really, I don't give a shit where the car-go-wroom-juice comes from, if it's Dino-based or something some nerd made in a beaker. As long as it's cheap and doesn't fuck my engine (fuck E10 fuels).
Click to expand...
Biofuels aren't good by any means- ethanol rips up engines, but at the very least they are far more efficient than electric. I'd take soybean oil "gas" over a Tesla if I had no choice.

And race cars used to use methanol fuel, so there at least exists another angle to view it from than just environmental posturing.

Things Better Forgotten said:
Because the same bleeding hearts who say F1 needs sustainable fuel and more hybrid systems are the same ones that say electricity to power AC is wasteful, but that same electricity to power a Tesla is environmentally conscious. The same ones that ask how could you possibly be so cruel as to go hunting and kill an animal to eat it, when you could just get meat from the store.
Click to expand...
All of environmentalism is posturing. It's all kicking the can down the curb. You burning fossil fuels for power is terrible but being powered by electricity imported from a country where third worlders burn fossil fuels is sustainable. Same thing with farming. Farming cows is terrible because muh methane, but the massive amounts of power and water required to water soybeans are actually sustainable because "renewable".
 
A.P. Hill said:
Biofuels aren't good by any means- ethanol rips up engines, but at the very least they are far more efficient than electric. I'd take soybean oil "gas" over a Tesla if I had no choice.

And race cars used to use methanol fuel, so there at least exists another angle to view it from than just environmental posturing.
Click to expand...
E85 is basically government sponsored race fuel if you have a turbocharged tuner car, it's absurdly knock resistant and burns cooler than gasoline so you can run a shitload of boost. It does start like shit when cold though and it's kinda pointless in naturally aspirated cars.
 
FOM going all in on getting more DTS level fans in.

SmartSelect_20220818-205350_Brave.jpg

Companies chasing the mythical wider market always end up fucking over their actual fans and not keeping the extras they bring in who go elsewhere as soon as someone else comes up with the new shiny thing. This is why gatekeeping is essential.
 
F1 absolutely did have a huge fanbase in the 1990's and 2000's. The main reason why that went away for a bit is solely due to F1's broadcasters putting races on paid satellite/cable channels and thus making it hard for casuals to follow it. That is the real issue for F1 to solve, because the whole sport relies on maximum possible eyeballage to sponsors, who keep the teams and races going. This cartoon shit will just flop and be forgotten as a weird embarrassing event of minimal consequence.

I remember back here in Finland, absolutely everyone followed F1 when it was on MTV3 where we could follow Mika Häkkinen's adventures in beating Michael Schumacher. Even old grandmothers who normally couldn't care about sports at all cared about how McLaren vs Ferrari unfolded every race weekend because it was on a channel everyone could see and our man was there, fighting for the world championship. People bought West cigarettes just to support the team. Owning genuine McLaren merch made you the coolest kid in the school, even more-so than those who owned real NHL merch or those who followed every frost-tipped late 90's fashion trends. After it went to paid channels around 2007, people still followed it but with less enthusiasm and by the time Kimi went to rallying; the interest was down to a die-hard core that loved the sport, warts and all. DTS did get some people interested again but Finnish F1 fandom still is this hardcore base that started watching in the mid-to-late 90's and never stopped, no matter how stale it got.
 
Coccxys said:
FOM going all in on getting more DTS level fans in.
Click to expand...
Children's animated series? Like McLaren Tooned? To be fair, I didn't mind that. Maybe because Hambone was still kinda likable back when this was made (2010-ish).


A reboot of McLaren Tooned would be cool. If Bluey has taught us anything, it's that kids love hearing real Australian voices in cartoons. Maybe time for a reboot once Piastri joins the team? (tho it's a shame we'll never see Danny Ric doing an animated shoey)
 
Coccxys said:
FOM going all in on getting more DTS level fans in.

View attachment 3615713

Companies chasing the mythical wider market always end up fucking over their actual fans and not keeping the extras they bring in who go elsewhere as soon as someone else comes up with the new shiny thing. This is why gatekeeping is essential.
Click to expand...
"We want people to engage with our sport in any way they want to."
This speaks like the usual grey monoculture corporate nonsense, you don't have to be interested in or engage to be a fan just buy the merchandise and put F1 fan in your bio!
 
Coccxys said:
FOM going all in on getting more DTS level fans in.

View attachment 3615713

Companies chasing the mythical wider market always end up fucking over their actual fans and not keeping the extras they bring in who go elsewhere as soon as someone else comes up with the new shiny thing. This is why gatekeeping is essential.
Click to expand...
Do they want to be Nascar? Because GOD DAMN are they ever trying to be Nascar.
 
The latest episode of Enforcer and The Dude has just dropped. Russell Ingall, former V8 Supercars champion, Bathurst 1000 winner and one-time F1 aspirant, has a source inside the consortium that's backing Piastri, and reports the following "alleged facts" (as he puts it):

1. Alpine's claim of putting up to 25 million euro into Piastri's development is bullshit. According to the source, Alpine contributed around 500k euro out the 3 million or so required to put Piastri through F2 and F3.

2. Whilst it's true that Alpine has given Piastri a lot of seat time in sims and testing, Alpine has gained plenty from this relationship too. Apparently Alpine's engineers have been impressed with the feedback Piastri has given wrt vehicle development. True, testing costs money... but if they didn't hire Piastri to do the testing, they would have needed to pay someone else to do it.

3. There was never a deal on the table with Williams, nor was there a deal on the table with Alpine unless you count "trust us bro" as a deal.

4. Ingall confirms that when discussions commenced between Piastri's management and McLaren, the expectation was that Alonso would stay at Alpine in 2023. McLaren apparently made the first move.

5. When Alonso blindsided Alpine with his intention to drive for AM in 2023, Alpine assumed that Piastri would take Alonso's seat.... however it appears that Piastri's people made it clear to Alpine weeks prior to Alonso's announcement that Piastri would most likely join another team in 2023. Alpine was apparently OK with this.

6. McLaren was planning on getting rid of Ricciardo even if they didn't sign Piastri for 2023.

7. Alpine has lost (or are going to lose) quite a few engineers and other "key personnel" by the end of 2022, with many of them apparently going over to McLaren. Maybe this ties in with point 2?

8. Alonso walked because of a combination of point 7, as well as Alpine's refusal to give him a 2 year contract (Alpine would only offer 1 year; most likely to make room for Piastri in 2024).

--
Whilst these are "alleged facts", I'd bet dollars to donuts that this is spot on. Russell Ingall is a straight shooter and is very well connected in Australian motorsport. He was also a motorsports commentator for Fox Sports Australia until he got fired for being too based. TBH I wouldn't be surprised if the "source" was Mark Webber himself.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom