2026 - Offseason

[Bagwan]

I knew I could rely on you for a "nutshell" appraisal .
Thanks for that .

[airshifter]

We won't know for sure until we know for sure Bagwan, but I'm expecting the cars to be decent overall, with some obvious changes to the way they produce lap times. At this point many are expecting lap times a second to second and a half slower on average, and I doubt that will be very far off.

Acceleration on straights should be quicker all around with the active aero, and for that reason the overtake mode (within a second similar to DRS) might not be deployed as often on straights resulting in the DRS fly by passes we have seen. With the new regs once within a second that extra energy can be used over the lap, not just on a straight. If they blow it all to get a DRS style fly by pass on the straight, it might leave them more vulnerable due to energy stores being depleted. I'm somewhat expecting that the use of the overtake mode will take more driver savvy and racecraft as compared to DRS, at least I hope so.

Some are expecting a lot less dirty air than the previous regs, but TBH they will find a way. At the start of the season it might be lesser, but I don't see it being much better than the start of the outgoing regs.... which really was much better than regs prior to that.



There are some really crappy videos of the Audi on track at Barcelona already, it's not long before we start finding out who got it right.

[F1nKS]

Marko says he expects the racing field to diverge this next year with significant gaps. He expects the winner to be a team with a Mercedes engine.

Red Bull is talking down expectations. Mekies said:

“Bear with us in the first few months, and I think these initial difficulties will be good reminders of how much we went through to eventually get on top.”

Meanwhile Albon got engaged.

Ferrari is giving Hamilton a new race engineer. Adami had been the race engineer for Vettel and Carlo Sainz, but seemed to have chemistry problems with Hamilton.

Adami That’s a P8. Was a pretty good job out there. Well done and pick up please. Very good comeback and charge button on. Okay, you are in it.

Hamilton Been a long season, guys. Grazie a tutti. Thank you for your kindness. I’m grateful for all your hard work. I’ll always fight for you guys, always. Grazie.

Hamilton Did you get that message? The one time you don’t reply…

F1 has a "closed door" test for the teams on January 26 through the 30th at Barcelona.

It is being reported that Red Bull will not be attending. If that is true, it may point to why Mekies is talking down expectations.