Maybe McLaren got on top of the harvesting software strategy. I'm expecting Mercedes to switch from engine mode 2 to mode 3 (6 more to go) and carry on regardless.
Heck, in the olden ruleset, it was supposedly only by mid'2015 that they finally went "OK, no more sandbags to throw out, time to bring the developments out from the lab".
That was an interesting time.
By the way, I’m pretty sure we got an ultra rare shot of the McLaren floor when it was laying on the ground, when Norris’ car was up on the stands.
I’m pretty sure the team is allowed to move the privacy screens in front of the garage when they remove the floor. So being able to see the whole floor like that?
Potato picture, taking a shot of my ipad with my phone..
By the way, I’m pretty sure we got an ultra rare shot of the McLaren floor when it was laying on the ground, when Norris’ car was up on the stands.
I’m pretty sure the team is allowed to move the privacy screens in front of the garage when they remove the floor. So being able to see the whole floor like that?
Potato picture, taking a shot of my ipad with my phone..
This breakdown from the Race dives into the differences between Piastri’s lap and Antonelli’s.
Energy deployment was wildly different between the two, with Oscar pulling just shy of a tenth ahead over a lap.
https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/...vealing-where-mclaren-diverges-from-mercedes/
Fun stuff.
Energy deployment was wildly different between the two, with Oscar pulling just shy of a tenth ahead over a lap.
https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/...vealing-where-mclaren-diverges-from-mercedes/
Fun stuff.
Still probably nowhere near Merc on race pace, BUT, that is some solid progress already. Of course, they have had a bit of extra time on their hands....
The really evil play would be for the floor to be more 3-dimensional where the top and bottom surfaces are not the same, so that inferring the aero characteristics from a shot of the inside leads to to very wrong conclusions.
Anyway, good to see that my McLarens appear to have taken a step forward in terms of understanding how to make car go fast. Still no guarantees, but this is encouraging stuff. But does that mean that Oscar will be able to start a race this weekend? Still no guarantees.
I'm loving how twitchy the cars are. The drivers are really having to work, and Charles pulled off some ridiculous saves yesterday. Imagine we lived in an alternate universe where we had these aero and mechanical regs, but the engine regs were such that "superclipping" was not a phrase that had been invented...
I’m excited for a good race, and of course we’ve only seen practice so far, but the super clipping coming out of 130R just sounds slow when watching the onboards. I miss them going full tilt right up to the 100 meter board. For the most part, it looked like everyone had a basically dead battery coming through the final chicane. Hope we see some other strategies in FP3.
Got him on track with just over 20 minutes left in FP3. Scary for tomorrow, though. Again.Bad battery for Lando again, cya in Q1 I guess
I didn't watch Quali, but looking over the aftermath.....did Merc and RBR just swap chassis and change liveries? The complaints coming out of RBR are starting to sound like what we were hearing and seeing from Merc during the entirety of the last regs.
George and Kimi are going to be at it all season huh, and Kimi is going to end up being the star of that team.
George and Kimi are going to be at it all season huh, and Kimi is going to end up being the star of that team.
Here’s to hoping the race is good. The last few in Suzuka have snooze-worthy.
Early, but real interesting
Edit: I'm liking these more nimble cars....I don't think Russell makes that overtake at the chicane with the old cars. I think they would have been in tears aside the road with last year's cars.
Edit: I'm liking these more nimble cars....I don't think Russell makes that overtake at the chicane with the old cars. I think they would have been in tears aside the road with last year's cars.
Last edited:
Yup. These cars with some refinements to the powertrain could really be something.
Anyway, Kimi just got a major gift from Haas. Worried about Ollie, though.
Edit: bloody hell, that was a big one.
Anyway, Kimi just got a major gift from Haas. Worried about Ollie, though.
Edit: bloody hell, that was a big one.
Race has been… well, better than last year.
But watching jello congeal would have been more interesting than last year.
Big stretches have been a podcast though. Cars look good on track, but once we got past lap 12 or so? Nothing doing until pit stops and Bearman’s crash.
But watching jello congeal would have been more interesting than last year.
Big stretches have been a podcast though. Cars look good on track, but once we got past lap 12 or so? Nothing doing until pit stops and Bearman’s crash.
On the onboard graphic around the halo? I like the graphic for the active aero.
Cornering mode is “ / / “.
Straightline mode is “ = “.
Cornering mode is “ / / “.
Straightline mode is “ = “.
So does that mean that when Ferrari does eventually run their fancy rear wing, the graphic will then show “//“ “-|” “-\” “=“?
Last edited:
Good to see Ollie walking back into the garage.
That would be the ASCII spinner you see when installing on Linux.
I feel bad for Russell who had yet another infuriating race, but it's nice to see McLaren back and in contention, making it a three way manufacturer contest for podiums. Mercedes needs to figure out how to do starts.
Ended up being a decent race. I don’t think it was as enjoyable as the first two, but it was miles better than last year!
Overtaking at Suzuka is still really bloody hard, which means we get a different race. And the differences in deployment strategies still make for some interesting and dynamic racing decisions.
Overtaking at Suzuka is still really bloody hard, which means we get a different race. And the differences in deployment strategies still make for some interesting and dynamic racing decisions.
What I was working on during some of the more boring bits; preliminary dev of the front quarter view.
I'm glad to see McLaren have a successful weekend finally. Even better, seems like they have built themselves a fast car as well.
Looking back at the race, The less I am liking the regs with these cars. Piastri almost seemed comfortable in the lead and Kimi bogged down a bit in the back. Was that all due to Oscar being in clean air? Not sure. Even though cars can follow better, there still seems to be a pretty big benefit of clean air. I was surprised that Kimi just kinda ran away and hid when he got in front. Could be that he was just better with the Hards than Oscar was.
Although the next group was battling, it really seemed like it was just a 2026 version of a DRS train. The added amount of deployment was allowing a car behind stay in touch that they wouldn't be able to otherwise. Then it was a cat and mouse game of battery deployment hoping that a move in the chicane wouldn't be followed by a re-pass at T1/T2.
Bearman accident was kinda foreseen with people when they were talking about the speed difference between harvesting and deployment. Colapinto may have drifted left because he was fiddling with his steering wheel. Later on, Leclerc got by George flying past him in the same spot. It looked so bad that the announcers were thinking that there was something seriously wrong with Russell's car. It looks really bad when someone things there is a car problem when it was only because a driver is harvesting battery.....and it lays bare just how much speed these guys are losing in corners because of harvesting/superclipping.
Almost wish they would just have gone with a push-to-pass system only. Give teams a certain amount of boost....and that amount of boost can be "reset/refilled" at a pit stop. Might make a 1-stop strategy less attractive....and give an extra boost for a 2/3 stopper and allow the drivers to push their cars to the limit a bit more. Yea SCs would fuck with that, but SCs fuck with races all the time.
Although the next group was battling, it really seemed like it was just a 2026 version of a DRS train. The added amount of deployment was allowing a car behind stay in touch that they wouldn't be able to otherwise. Then it was a cat and mouse game of battery deployment hoping that a move in the chicane wouldn't be followed by a re-pass at T1/T2.
Bearman accident was kinda foreseen with people when they were talking about the speed difference between harvesting and deployment. Colapinto may have drifted left because he was fiddling with his steering wheel. Later on, Leclerc got by George flying past him in the same spot. It looked so bad that the announcers were thinking that there was something seriously wrong with Russell's car. It looks really bad when someone things there is a car problem when it was only because a driver is harvesting battery.....and it lays bare just how much speed these guys are losing in corners because of harvesting/superclipping.
Almost wish they would just have gone with a push-to-pass system only. Give teams a certain amount of boost....and that amount of boost can be "reset/refilled" at a pit stop. Might make a 1-stop strategy less attractive....and give an extra boost for a 2/3 stopper and allow the drivers to push their cars to the limit a bit more. Yea SCs would fuck with that, but SCs fuck with races all the time.
Last edited:
Keep in mind that Suzuka has been pretty terrible as a race, all things considered, for years.
And it’s still stupid early in the regulations. Let ‘em breathe a bit.
I can see them making a short term adjustment, say throttling the rate that electrical power can be deployed would be the easy fix - battery runs down more slowly => battery lasts longer => smooths out the yo-yo charge-up/deployment curves => less clipping => fewer overspeed differential incidents.
The speed differential between Bearman and Colapinto was nuts. Wasn't really either of their faults and at a really unfortunate spot.
Overall, I'm liking this season so far. I hope after the April break some more teams get competitive, maybe some rule tweaks/clarifications (maybe go softer on tire compounds for races because tire wear on these cars seems far less), but the twitchiness of the cars, how close they can stay together, and the deployment strategies is working for me. I also thought that reliability would be quite a bit worse than it has been.
Also, I'd really prefer Antonelli take WDC over Russell if it's going to be a Mercedes sweep. I know it's early, but...
Overall, I'm liking this season so far. I hope after the April break some more teams get competitive, maybe some rule tweaks/clarifications (maybe go softer on tire compounds for races because tire wear on these cars seems far less), but the twitchiness of the cars, how close they can stay together, and the deployment strategies is working for me. I also thought that reliability would be quite a bit worse than it has been.
Also, I'd really prefer Antonelli take WDC over Russell if it's going to be a Mercedes sweep. I know it's early, but...
George gives great radio when he's pissed off. I kinda want him to suffer in second place for a while just for the entertainment.
Saw somewhere that Bearman took 50 g's in that crash - no way he wasn't concussed, never mind the bruised leg; good thing for him that there's a month before the next race. The variability in the same corner depending where you are in the battery cycle is nuts. It's like you can't really develop a rhythm and literally every corner is different every lap. We're gonna have more incidents like this.
Saw somewhere that Bearman took 50 g's in that crash - no way he wasn't concussed, never mind the bruised leg; good thing for him that there's a month before the next race. The variability in the same corner depending where you are in the battery cycle is nuts. It's like you can't really develop a rhythm and literally every corner is different every lap. We're gonna have more incidents like this.
If that turns out to be the second most boring race of the season (Monaco has that title locked up) then I'm OK with it. Suzuka has been a snooze-fest for a while, and a race where there were multiple chances to overtake, and take-back, in the same lap on that circuit speaks volumes for the new cars imho. Obviously still some kinks to work out, but it's looking like it'll be a good season imho.
If McLaren can get their reliability up, and Ferrari can find some straight-line speed, we might end up with a 6-way fight for the WDC. Which would be incredible.
If McLaren can get their reliability up, and Ferrari can find some straight-line speed, we might end up with a 6-way fight for the WDC. Which would be incredible.
Yes, lots of things would be solved if F1 dropped the half-ICE / half-electric power distribution, but then what about the marketing, and all the investment in MGU-Ks and power electronics capable of handling the initially proposed 350kW. Besides, even if they brought the electric contribution all the way back to the 120kW of the older regulations, the cars would still de-rate on the final third of straights, because now they don't have the MGU-H to send harvested power at wide-open throttle to the wheels (which it could do, besides charging the battery). The Energy Store remains the same size as it has been since 2014.
F1's big problem is obviously the onboards with all of the telemetry. If they just remove all of the onboard cameras, then you wouldn't be able to see and hear the big speed drops through the likes of 130Recharge from the trackside cameras. Obvious fix, really. 
More seriously, they're in a hole that can't be sorted by turning down the amount the cars are allowed to harvest to the battery to reduce clipping. They made really sure that the ICE doesn't produce nearly the power that it did in the previous set of regs, so unless they want to go back to GP2 engines and risk Fernando's wrath, they're stuck with the ICE producing somewhere in the region of 500hp. With less harvesting, the power output from the electric motor will be crippled, which then ruins acceleration and top speed.
F2's engines from Mecachrome peak at 620hp, and they're in a smaller car that's nearly identical in weight. Without being able to use the electric motor for long periods of time, F1 runs the risk of being barely faster.
Part of the reason that superclippling is so damn obvious is that the cars go like stabbed rats when accelerating. They get to their top speed much more rapidly and top out at a higher speed before the electric motor tails off. I read somewhere that just between Spoon, through 130R and to the braking point at the chicane the new cars gain something like 0.6 sec, even with the extended recharge.
As far as I can see, there's no easy fix. Shame, because the cars honestly look better to watch (from external cameras), and it looks like they can follow more consistently than before. The chassis and aero regs appear to be good, they've just messed up on the powerplant. Who knew?
More seriously, they're in a hole that can't be sorted by turning down the amount the cars are allowed to harvest to the battery to reduce clipping. They made really sure that the ICE doesn't produce nearly the power that it did in the previous set of regs, so unless they want to go back to GP2 engines and risk Fernando's wrath, they're stuck with the ICE producing somewhere in the region of 500hp. With less harvesting, the power output from the electric motor will be crippled, which then ruins acceleration and top speed.
F2's engines from Mecachrome peak at 620hp, and they're in a smaller car that's nearly identical in weight. Without being able to use the electric motor for long periods of time, F1 runs the risk of being barely faster.
Part of the reason that superclippling is so damn obvious is that the cars go like stabbed rats when accelerating. They get to their top speed much more rapidly and top out at a higher speed before the electric motor tails off. I read somewhere that just between Spoon, through 130R and to the braking point at the chicane the new cars gain something like 0.6 sec, even with the extended recharge.
As far as I can see, there's no easy fix. Shame, because the cars honestly look better to watch (from external cameras), and it looks like they can follow more consistently than before. The chassis and aero regs appear to be good, they've just messed up on the powerplant. Who knew?
I'm sure they can figure out how to jam the last reg PUs in to their cars by the time the next race weekend rolls around. Something about money spent developing a different fuel comes to mind too though.
I dunno. The racing looks great, especially from the onboards as long as they aren't clipping. I find it interesting watching the various drivers manage the car's energy/power through the same parts of the track, just too bad that's the cause of the problem for the whole thing The FIA is kind of stuck aren't they...
I dunno. The racing looks great, especially from the onboards as long as they aren't clipping. I find it interesting watching the various drivers manage the car's energy/power through the same parts of the track, just too bad that's the cause of the problem for the whole thing
The FIA is kind of stuck aren't they...IMHO, these cars with the old powertrains would've been epic, but that ship has sailed.I'm sure they can figure out how to jam the last reg PUs in to their cars by the time the next race weekend rolls around. Something about money spent developing a different fuel comes to mind too though.
I dunno. The racing looks great, especially from the onboards as long as they aren't clipping. I find it interesting watching the various drivers manage the car's energy/power through the same parts of the track, just too bad that's the cause of the problem for the whole thing
Even if the engine mountings would be the same, there is no provision in the cooling, aero, weight distribution and suspension kinematics for the added weight, height (center of gravity) and heat of the MGU-H, nor are the power electronics designed for two sources of electric power. And what would RedBull-Ford and Audi use for an MGU-H, then? RedBull might be able to re-use the IP of the ex-Honda MGU-H they were using, but I keep forgetting the conditions of that agreement between Honda and RedBull (namely, if it included all the IP)
And you've mentioned fuel: the old engines would need to go back to the old fuel as well.
The FIA and Liberty Media are stuck with these rules for this year. But for now, I think the best they can do is to put all the deployment and harvesting decisions up to the drivers; no more crashes due to unintended accelerations, no more radio drama because the drivers are fighting the deployment strategy. Still, I think that even that alone would need new engine software and probably new steering wheels with an extra control input (if a third/fourth paddle isn't deemed safe enough by the drivers or the extra paddle(s) can't be retrofitted). But that's a lot quicker to do than adding another energy source (MGU-H, or another MGU-K for the front axle).