2026 F1 Thread

[DejaBrew]

Well I can't say I saw the Ferrari/ AV geek crossover on my 2026 bingo list!

Disappointed I didn't get tickets to Melbourne with these shenanigans going on!

For those who haven't seen it....

'F***, what happened?' - Rivals and FIA on Ferrari's upside down rear wing

Does the FIA think Ferrari's upside down wing is legal? And what do its rivals make of the innovation? More on the story that took the F1 paddock by storm on Thursday

www.the-race.com

Gary Anderson's verdict on Ferrari's astonishing upside-down wing

Gary Anderson explains the pros and cons of Ferrari's upside down rear wing, and how it differs to the other teams' approaches for 2026

www.the-race.com

https://twitter.com/x/status/2024437513033490506

 

[mel-world]

Interesting new podcast that's also on YouTube.

Max is relaxed but forthright as usual

 

[MARTINE]

Two weeks people two weeks

 

[moa999]

Ferrari flap definity interesting. But must be very close to the limit of 400ms for flap deployment, whereas other systems would be a lot quicker.

What happens to the aero as it relatively slowly flips would be interesting.

 

[DejaBrew]

Ferrari flap definity interesting. But must be very close to the limit of 400ms for flap deployment, whereas other systems would be a lot quicker.

I haven't seen the full speed replay of this yet, but according to Nikolas Tombazis (FIA's Technical Director), the implementation is legal. And even if deployment is slower, any losses could be theoretically regained courtesy of the induced lift leading to higher top speeds. Very interesting...

What happens to the aero as it relatively slowly flips would be interesting.

Not sure of the impact on deployment, but certainly when it's returning to position at the end of a straight, it will briefly operate as an airbrake which may reduce demand on the brakes themselves. Remains to be seen whether this gives Ferrari any advantage in terms of dive-bombing other cars into the braking zone, or indeed out-dragging cars along the straights.

Between this and the smaller turbo they're reportedly running, I'd love to think that Ferrari has stolen a march on other teams in a few areas of the new technical and engine regs. But as a long-suffering Ferrari fan, I'm not wanting to exhaust all of my "Hopium" before the season has begun