2026 Belgian Grand Prix - Spa-Francorchamps, July 17 - 19

[langedweil]

It has to be such an odd feeling when you're decelerating that much down the straight.

For the drivers I'm sure it is, for us it's just sad to hear & see ..
It's still FP1, but 1.40.5xx last year vs 1.47.0xx now feels really sad.

[langedweil]

The 50% peak electric power idea in itself (thank you Mercedes, Audi) is a fundamentally flawed starting point, and no amount of band-aid jobs (that's you 60:40 2028) is going to make any of this any better.

50/50 would have worked fine, if the ES was like 24MJ and they allowed for much higher rates of regen.

That ES would be 6x larger; larger in size and more specifically heavier, making things more of a race of Leopard's ..

[basti313]

Two different circuits

WTF

They are 30-50km/h slower in every fast corner and approaching every breaking point with sort of "crawling"???

[ispano6]

Two different circuits

https://postimg.cc/LgvS3L20

What do we see through EauRouge-Radillion, and through/out of Pouhon, the 'character defining' portions of this ckt ?
Massive recharging.
Despite which, at the end of Kemmel straight and through Blanchimont, we can see how pathetic the top speed still is. This is with SLM mode ON, mind you.
At what point are FoM/FIA/Liberty going to admit that this regulation/formula which is a bodge on a bodge on a hare-brained "lets make it 50% hybrid like road cars" premise, is a failure ? The 50% peak electric power idea in itself (thank you Mercedes, Audi) is a fundamentally flawed starting point, and no amount of band-aid jobs (that's you 60:40 2028) is going to make any of this any better.

It's not the split that is the issue. It's the removal of the MGUH that was the mistake. Just so that Audi and Cadillac could have an "easier" entry path.

[erudite450]

I really dislike this constant need for gratification. Races rarely finish behind the safety car so why the furore when it happens? These things happen. It's sports. Football matches end in goalless draws and we don't hear football fans asking for penalty shootouts in league matches. I really hate these knee jerk reactions the moment people don't get their full doze of dopamine. And for goodness sake, Sky should stop their senseless crusade. I'm extremely disappointed in Martin Brundle. He's usually the voice of reason. Naomi Schiff gets my applause for not joining the stupid uproar.

[Sevach]

"flat out" through Pouhon

[venkyhere]

"flat out" through Pouhon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCvOUSRTp-4

Pre-2026 F1 :
Testing the limits of grip - who gives up earlier, man or machine ?

2026-and-beyond F1 :
Testing the limits of energy efficiency - who screws it up, driver or algorithm ?

"hey, but the racing is better in 2026, MORE OVERTAKES".

[venkyhere]

Subtle differences in deployment strategy between Q sim (S) and R sim (M) :



My inference is that either ANT is sandbagging the R run or VER is sandbagging the Q run or both.

[Waz]

Two different circuits

https://postimg.cc/LgvS3L20

I don't see the ferocious acceleration these cars are supposed to have. The speed traces in the acceleration phase look like they overlap.

[Waz]

"flat out" through Pouhon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCvOUSRTp-4

Can we compare to the 2022 cars? Why compare end of the regulation cycle to the beginning?

[Waz]

I really dislike this constant need for gratification. Races rarely finish behind the safety car so why the furore when it happens? These things happen. It's sports. Football matches end in goalless draws and we don't hear football fans asking for penalty shootouts in league matches. I really hate these knee jerk reactions the moment people don't get their full doze of dopamine. And for goodness sake, Sky should stop their senseless crusade. I'm extremely disappointed in Martin Brundle. He's usually the voice of reason. Naomi Schiff gets my applause for not joining the stupid uproar.

+1

Maybe they can go back to the old rules and just red flag it for the end of the race? What do we need a 1 lap race for?