F1 2026

[MiniDave]

We're only about 7 weeks till the cars are on the track in Barcelona!

There has been a LOT going on behind the scenes, Adrian Newey has been made team principle at Aston, some folks have been sent packing, others shuffled aside, and it's said he won't be on the wall necessarily at every race even tho he's the HMFIC.

I guess ol Lawrence wants to get his $61 million worth out of the guy!

So lots of interesting speculation on engines - Mercedes is looking like it's 2014 all over again, as they are acknowledged to have a significant edge in "powah", Audi is saying they don't expect to contend at first but by 2029 should be winning races and fighting for championships, not just wins.

Cadillac is rumored to be the dark horse, having already invested close to a billion in their effort. They'll be using Toyota's windtunnel in Germany, building engines in Illinois and basing their operations near Silverstone just like all the other teams - except Ferrari.

Ferrari has not been mentioned for engine development - not a word - so they're a complete unknown, so HAAS and Cadillac are as well.

Red Bull will be fielding their Ford branded Honda-like power plant, and were rumored to be well behind the others, but this week have come out and said they've made major strides and now expect to be on equal terms with Mercedes. Of course, no one knows what their chassis will be like without the Newey touch. I'm wondering whether the car will be another Max special or more neutral and give Isack a chance at keeping up?

Alpine expects to make a big step forward since they'll be running Merc engines too.

McLaren expects to step right up to the front again, and I think they have a good shot at it - Lando will have the #1 on his car next season, unknown what number Max will choose, but I doubt it will be #2! 

Edit: Max's previous number was 33, but he's chosen to race as #3 next season, his second favorite number,  to # 1 that is!

All the driver's seats have been decided too, but there are rumors all over the paddock and internet that things are not as settled as they seem - we'll have to wait till Feb to find out what's what there.

Lastly, the races will only be shown on Apple TV (and maybe Sky?) in the US and I'm waiting to see whether we'll get the Mother's sponsored no commercial version or the ABC version where the cut away at exactly the wrong times.

Oh, and Portimao will be back on the schedule in 27 and 28! I liked that track, lots of elevation changes and interesting curves....

Ready for Feb to get here now!

More as it happens......

[BruceK]

Regarding watching F1 in 2026, I was at a car show a week ago talking with a British guy who lives here in Texas and he said he had never watched any of the SkySports/ESPN/ABC coverage because he had purchased F1 access through Roku called F1 TV, which is the official Formula 1 offering. He said it included former F1 drivers as commentators, like David Coulthard. 

I was thinking that would be a good option besides Apple for 2026 but researching it right now it sure looks  like it will no longer be available.  Apple is the only, only way. On a positive note, my research is telling me that there will be no TV commercials watching F1 through Apple. I see that Apple TV is available to stream for $12.99 a month. Also, if you purchase a new iPhone, they offer three months free of Apple TV.

[MiniDave]

We got a 6 month deal on Apple TV for $6 a month, then $13 a month after that....we've been watching the heck out of it - gonna get my money's worth!

We don't have an "i" stuff....

[MiniDave]

Rumors have gone around the paddock for months saying that Mercedes had the most powerful of the new edition motors - and now the reason has become public, tho not the "trick" - however Red Bull it's said have also figured it out.

It has to do with compression ratio - they're supposed to be limited to 16:1, but Mercedes has managed to get theirs to run 18:1 which gives them about 40 HP more than the others.

Seems that the key is when they test it, the official test for compression ratio is done at "room temperature", and apparently Mercedes is correct at that temp but goes up as it gets to race temps. I don't know the details yet, but it seems like there is a real problem here - if they let them go ahead and race this motor, half the grid will be at a substantial deficit, and the 4 Merc powered teams will be in a race amongst themselves (maybe with Red Bull) and the rest will be is a separate class based on power alone.

But if they make Mercedes change it now, they may be at a deficit to the other teams since the regs will be on track in about 6 weeks. Some discussions have said maybe they'll let them race one season like that then ban them for next year, others have said they'll only let them race with this motor the first few races then re-evaluate after they see the on track results.

Shades of 2014 all over again!

Of course, this completely discounts whether the cars will be reliable, the new electrical systems will work as predicted or turn into smoke, how the new overtake devices will work and so on.

Testing is going to be really interesting!