F1 2026 - Watchalong Thread

[Brazilianadventure]

Happy New Year.

This is going to be an interesting year with the regulation change.

Rumours are Mercedes and RB engines are exploiting a loophole and so may have the most powerful engines.

AM will have a car with significant input from Adrian Newey.

Sauber becomes Audi and we have an 11th team, Cadillac.

Christian Horner seems very keen to get back into F1, preferably Alpine with Flávio - they deserve each other.

There is closed door testing in Barcelona then open testing from 11 February at Sakhir.

Edited for typo and thread title.

1st Test week - Wednesday is first day on track.

27/02/26 Drive to Survive Season 8 release date.

No surprise Flávio is in the Epstein files. I would be more surprised if he wasn’t. Plus Jean Todd!

Roll on 3pm tomorrow and the big Mclaren reveal.

Anyone with he more technical knowledge than me keen to give their thoughts on the Merc engine controversy? I’ll admit to bias because all ‘my’ drivers rely on Merc engines but I really hope they’re not banned this close to the start of the season It’s not as though the loophole they’ve found has only just been discivered.

From what P1 Matt & Tommy were saying it seems RB couldn’t work out how to do it so raised an objection.

I think it will run and run and there could be an appeal in Australia.

James V has just been interviewed about this on SSF1 youtube, he's totally happy and confident that the Mercedes engine is compliant to the current rules. But if the rule is a compression ratio of 16:1 and the Merc engine can reach 18:1 when hot which gives them a performance advantage then it does seem like they're breaking that rule (Merc might interpret as exploiting a loophole) in which case the FIA would have to do something, I'm surprised its only RB that have complained - unless of course Honda / Ferrari have already figured out how to do the same.

I’m confused because the engine ratio has been on the news for months (or maybe it just feels like months) and Merc have been saying all along that the engine was developed with the blessing if the FIA and is legal.

It seems the rule was applicable for ambient conditions, e.g. the FIA never planned to test the 16:8 max compression at hot operating temps - so now the other manufacturers are challenging this, I don't see what they can do about changing the rule for this season though.

I agree it maybe difficult to change the rule now but they could do it mid year or for next year.

A lot will depend on how far ahead the Merc powered cars are.

The RB seems to be the fastest car after the first week of testing. They have done well with it being the first Ford engine.
I just hope it’s not going to be another period of RB dominance and the others catch up.

I'm confused about who's the quickest after testing but then I haven't seen an overall result from all three days but Andrew Benson has just published an article on the BBC website saying that Antonelli set the quickest race simulation of the week, I think Lewis was next but I could be wrong its not worded very clearly, also the article mentions that the RB technical director has said McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari are clearly ahead of RB and George has said that RB are going to be ahead of Mercedes!!! 😂 I shall wait for Ted's notebook in an hour or so to see if it becomes clearer to me.

Yes the lap times i saw had Lando top on Wednesday and Kimi.Antonelli today, (cant remember ydays results) but Ferrari were pretty near the top both times.
I like the idea it could be a closer competition with new regulations
Me and DS have been rooting for OP (DS has been following him since f2, and ive tagged along more recently) and were disappointed he lost the lead on the wdc (mostly through his own results and a few mclaren errors) but he doesnt do as well on low grip circuits ....and i believe the new cars are less....grippy(??? Sorry i dont know the proper terms) So will be interesting to see how the new regulations affect the drivers as well as the cars.

....sorry I realise im showing my naivety as I guess its always been a balance between the driver and the car! 🫣

I think ideally the drivers adapt - they being paid pretty well to, but of course some find it harder than others. Ted's notebook is titled 'Ted asks which team really are the fastest' - so far McLaren have said Ferrari and Charles have said McLaren, this is not helping my confusion.

It appears Ferrari may have got a lead in one area. Fred apparently pointed out the start procedure in the new cars took much longer. No one else agreed so Ferrari developed a quicker start procedure. Now the other teams are asking for a longer start procedure time and Ferrari have blocked it saying it’s a long standing known issue.

The argument is it’s a safety issue if Ferrari get away a lot quicker than cars ahead of them.

To be honest, I think everything right now is just speculation. Mainly to give the press something to write about and also to keep the sponsors happy that they’re still getting exposure even during the off season. No-one really knows anything for sure until everyone gets on the track during actual race conditions and the racing does the talking.

@HundredMilesAnHour Fair point.

Yes I said that too @HundredMilesAnHour
Until I see a race i can't make any real judgement, its all smoke and mirrors at the moment.

Max said something along the lines of he expects Merc to have a lot more power in the first race. They are all sandbagging!

Not strictly F1 but Formula E had a race this weekend for celeb/influencers, Richard Hammond's daughter has just had a high speed crash, fortunately she's okay but I'm surprised at the event.

I know the career ladder guy was due to take part.

That isn’t good. I think a lot of people forget how dangerous Motor Sport really is. Professionals lose their lives.
Im glad she is OK.

There's a new episode of HIgh performance just come out on youtube today with Rob Smedley being interviewed and one of the things he talks about is Felipe's 2009 awful accident, thankfully accidents are rarer these days.

I would have thought the Grosjean incident would still be at the forefront of everyone’s minds as a reminder of just how dangerous motorsport is. Especially with the coverage of it on Drive to Survive and the burnt-out remains of his car displayed in a ‘prime spot’ at the F1 exhibition.

But it’s also very apparent how quickly motorsport moves on. There is much less coverage or even mention now of Antoine Hubert’s death in 2019 other than in connection with his close friend Pierre paying his respects each year, and the same for Jules Bianchi who only seems to get mentioned because of his family connection with Charles.

Very sad but also a reflection of life and how we all move on.

I only started following F1 in the last couple of years and I know about Antoine Hubert. I felt the tributes/Run for Antoine were given a lot of coverage last year

I know TWG means something different but I can’t help thinking it looks like Cadillac is sponsored by an overpriced tea seller.