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George Russell claimed his first Formula One sprint race win at the 2026 Chinese Grand Prix, maintaining his perfect start to the season after a closely fought contest that highlighted both Mercedes’ strengths and the evolving competitive order under the 2026 regulations.
Removal of FTM has implications for downforce though. They did the test but that doesn’t mean they’ll necessarily go through with it. We’ll see if the trade off is worth it but I personally haven’t read anything that confirms they’re definitely going ahead with it. It might be that having a better Macarena wing means they can keep the FTM mode for the corners and still shed enough drag to negate the loss in power.bluechris wrote: ↑11 Jul 2026, 20:20The biggest change for me will be the removal of FTM for Spa. This alone will free the motor. They tested without it in Austria and they gathered the data needed. A better Macarena wing is the icing on the cake since they will go in full low downforce hoping to mitigate their engine deficit to the MB's. Our drivers are not slouches and they can cope with a handy car.
Now that they have ADUO, there's less incentive to trade hp for df don't you think? Something tells me this was the plan all along.
The intellectual property rules prohibit this kind of thing. If memory serves even Shell employees can't know what fellow employees are doing for other teams. Everything has to be strictly firewalled.
What I get from this is that the Ferrari wing is better after all at recovering down-force. While the Red Bull wing only gets rid of the flow separation when being almost completely closed. Also the air forces the Ferrari wing into its final position, while Red Bull's need to overpower the air.
I think rule 1.4 of Appendix C5 makes it clearly illegal. All teams using the same PU with fuel supplied by the same supplier must be identical:bluechris wrote: ↑14 Jul 2026, 06:59Something that keeps coming in my mind the last days is what i read about the fuel. Who can be sure that this wasn't the plan from the start? I mean who knows for sure that there wasn't a collaboration with Shell and the 3 teams that all received fuel with some difference's and after the 1st races, now they all have the data which fuel is the best and all informed of it? I don't know if it is permitted or not but imo its a logical assumption, and something that i strongly believe it's happening always in all the engine manufacturer's, silently or not.
Also, wouldn't it be obvious which fuel is better from the dyno? Testing on the track doesn't really seem necessary to me.Appendix C5, 1.4: ... All Power Units supplied by a single PU Manufacturer must also be operated in the same way, they
must therefore be:
...
c. Run with identical specifications of engine oil and fuel, and associated software calibrations,
unless an alternative supplier is preferred by a Customer Team.
Well, it's Slade who thinks that the FW concept is superior. Judging by the results so far the Mercedes seems faster overall. Or at least up until recently.
New flip wing and FTM delete, FWIW.The evolution affects the mobile flap and its kinematics, with the aim of further reducing the resistance to advance when it is opened, keeping the level of deportation substantially unchanged. According to the indications collected, the gain could reach up to 3 km/h of maximum speed, which is why Ferrari wants to introduce the component as soon as all the necessary copies are available.