No F1 thread?

[dan]

Are GP2 cars doing the whole hybrid thing or are we going to end up with GP2 cars being faster than F1?

Having to coast at the end of the straights because the power is dropping off seems a pretty shitty form of motorsport however you dress it up.

F2 were 15 seconds a lap slower around bahrain last year so they won't be anywhere near.

[duncs500]

Are GP2 cars doing the whole hybrid thing or are we going to end up with GP2 cars being faster than F1?

I CBA to overly fact check this (layout, surface etc the same), but a quick Google tells me that last year's F2 (formerly GP2) pole lap was 1m 44s, Leclerc did a 1m 34s in testing yesterday.

So it seems the answer is a pretty resounding no.

[duncs500]

Dan beat me to it. That does beg the question of how fast they would be if it was optimised to allow them to be flat out.

To me F1 has always been as much about being technically and tactically interesting as it has been about exciting racing (you need something to keep you interested in a dull season), so I'm still looking forward too it. I think there'll be a lot of differing strategy in the early races.

I caught a bit of testing yesterday and there was a bit of sort of lite chasing / sparring between Norris and Russell, and to be honest whilst the drivers were probably playing with a lot of things, it didn't really seem overly different from what we're used to.

[GG.]

Dan beat me to it. That does beg the question of how fast they would be if it was optimised to allow them to be flat out.

To me F1 has always been as much about being technically and tactically interesting as it has been about exciting racing (you need something to keep you interested in a dull season), so I'm still looking forward too it. I think there'll be a lot of differing strategy in the early races.

I caught a bit of testing yesterday and there was a bit of sort of lite chasing / sparring between Norris and Russell, and to be honest whilst the drivers were probably playing with a lot of things, it didn't really seem overly different from what we're used to.

I think the issue is that the areas in which one driver gains an advantage over another get increasingly masked . I expect it will be very difficult to see that one has lifted and coasted more than another so they seem inexplicably faster over a lap but it won't be because of the balls to the wall (or in the wall - Max, Jeddah, '21) effort that we used to but just because his battery was charged to 50% not 20%. Let's see.

[Mito Man]

They could display battery levels on screen to help lessen the confusion.
I wonder if running in the dirty air would be better now - conserve fuel and battery levels and just use overtake mode on the final lap. Doubt the tyres are working as hard now.

You’d expect the pace difference between teams to be quite big so the Mickey Mouse aspects may not be apparent at first but once the field closes up the silliness of the regulations will be exposed.

[Swervin_Mervin]

The visibility looks a bit cack out of the new cars - the area that the Halo connect to behind the driver now coming a lot further forward almost to the front of their helmets. I can't believe it doesn't cut down some of their peripheral vision.

[Marv]

Are GP2 cars doing the whole hybrid thing or are we going to end up with GP2 cars being faster than F1?

I CBA to overly fact check this (layout, surface etc the same), but a quick Google tells me that last year's F2 (formerly GP2) pole lap was 1m 44s, Leclerc did a 1m 34s in testing yesterday.

So it seems the answer is a pretty resounding no.

Lance Stroll clocked the slowest lap a 1:39.883...so if he had a depleted battery, the F2 car might be about the same pace

There's lots of speculation at regarding pretty much every aspect of the 2026 cars, how they are to drive etc...it's enjoyable as it's just speculation, so once we get to Melbourne the truth will reveal itself!

[Marv]

Didn’t expect Mosley or Ecclestone to be mentioned in this, the corrupt old feckers!

[Zonda_]

Are GP2 cars doing the whole hybrid thing or are we going to end up with GP2 cars being faster than F1?

Having to coast at the end of the straights because the power is dropping off seems a pretty shitty form of motorsport however you dress it up.

No, they have a turbo 3.4 V6 non hybrid.

[Mito Man]

One thing is for certain. The team radio from Nando will keep us amused even if the race isn’t too entertaining

[duncs500]

Seems like all the teams are pointing at each other saying "we've seen the data, he's much faster!". Red Bull's engine is probably the biggest surprise, even if it doesn't turn out to be the best engine (which it might), it's looking like a bloody good effort for a first go!

[Mito Man]

The Red Bull engine looks great and it’s impressive so far. Also the actual engine is a pure in house design and I think it’s manufactured in Milton Keynes - Ford is just running the software and battery side of things. For a team that doesn’t even have a road car division it’s incredible really.

[Mito Man]

Just watching the third test session now. Not sure if something has been lost in translation but Alex Brundle saying that to launch the cars they need to sit on the grid for 10 seconds at almost full revs to get the turbos spooled up

I did notice that the cars seem to really bog down off the line but that’s also because they’re not allowed to use the hybrid system at very low speeds - but still you’d think with 700+ bhp from the engine they’d be a bit more snappy.

Perhaps with no EV assistance the turbos take forever to spool up but 10 seconds seems crazy.