Motosport General discussion tread --- Formula1, MotoGP, WTCC, ETCC, DTM.....

[karabiber]

Sustainable fuels and the growing importance of electric power are truly important goals, but the sheer speed of the drivers is gradually losing its significance. In my opinion, this situation will cause F1 to lose its spirit. We are moving towards a series where it is not the fastest but the best manager that matters, as it used to be, and this is a major paradigm shift.

The upcoming season will start with complete chaos. Due to the complex structure of the engines, I think there will be a lot of engine failures. There are concerns that the new changes in all teams will not deliver the expected performance, and that car performance will seriously decline, especially on long straights.

[tokeweed]

Max just shared his thoughts on the sound of the 2026 regulation car, saying that it sounded crisp and good. He shared that he didn't know how the team developed it, but it made a good noise. However, even though he thinks the sound is good, he is still 50-50 on the 2026 regulations. He added that if he doesn't find “fun” in the latest regulations, he will leave F1 and focus on his other passions. He has no reason to stay in regulations that he himself no longer finds interesting to pursue. Moreover, he is not chasing more titles and wants to spend more time with his family and pursue his GT3 project.

In case you missed it, this is the sound of the new 2026 regulation car just shared by Mercedes.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/_bzc8Cm9DkI

Mmm...  It still doesn't sound like an F1 engine that most fans have gotten used to.  It will take 10 years before the new generation of fans won't make these kinds of comparisons because the F1 engine sound they know is from the V6 Turbo.

And also hearing things that Toto Wolff is gonna offer and allow Verstappen to drive for the other racing types in Mercedes if he signs with the F1 team. 

Things are starting to get iiinteresting.

[retreat]

Sustainable fuels and the growing importance of electric power are truly important goals, but the sheer speed of the drivers is gradually losing its significance. In my opinion, this situation will cause F1 to lose its spirit. We are moving towards a series where it is not the fastest but the best manager that matters, as it used to be, and this is a major paradigm shift.

The upcoming season will start with complete chaos. Due to the complex structure of the engines, I think there will be a lot of engine failures. There are concerns that the new changes in all teams will not deliver the expected performance, and that car performance will seriously decline, especially on long straights.

Sustainable fuels and batteries aren't really needed in F1. I think they're just a ruse to make a sport like F1 follow the green trend, when the essence of F1 is high technology and speed, not energy sustainability gimmicks. Turning F1 into a testing ground for batteries and environmentally friendly fuels actually changes the essence of the sport into more of a climate campaign. But that's the reality now, the FIA ​​is gradually making F1 look like an entertainment and profit-seeking event. Especially when most F1 fans today are young, they won't care too much about these things - unlike us F1 fans who may have enjoyed F1 since the V10 era, or even longer, these changes are so obvious and seem forced.

[tokeweed]

Lol no...  It's not anything like a 'ruse'.     F1 is actually a kind of real time lab for engine technology research.  And it's not just that, tech for brakes, engine management systems, gear boxes, etc...

Some of the new tech and development done in F1 are used by car manufacturers for road cars.  Ever wonder why our cars these days are a lot better than those ones 20 years ago?  Yeah...  A good part of that came from F1 tech.

[retreat]

2026 is here, which means the 2026 regulations are in place and ready to be unveiled to F1 fans. Fans will have the opportunity to see the 2026 designs ahead of the season. For now, here are some of the confirmed names that will unveil their designs:

1. January 15: Red Bull, Racing Bulls
2. January 20: Audi, Honda engines
3. January 23: Alpine, Haas, Ferrari
4. February 8: Cadillac
5. February 9: Aston Martin

The launch date for the other teams is still unknown.

This will be a showcase that will answer much of the speculation about F1 team designs for the 2026 regulations.

[tokeweed]

2026 is here, which means the 2026 regulations are in place and ready to be unveiled to F1 fans. Fans will have the opportunity to see the 2026 designs ahead of the season. For now, here are some of the confirmed names that will unveil their designs:

1. January 15: Red Bull, Racing Bulls
2. January 20: Audi, Honda engines
3. January 23: Alpine, Haas, Ferrari
4. February 8: Cadillac
5. February 9: Aston Martin

The launch date for the other teams is still unknown.

This will be a showcase that will answer much of the speculation about F1 team designs for the 2026 regulations.

Damn...  Can't believe it's just going to be a couple of months before the new season starts, with the new tech specs and new teams.

I hope this won't be one of those ones when we got all pumped and excited at the start but then come June - July, the races start to get boring and stale again.  Lol. 

Stuff I wanna see this season are: 

Hamilton gets back in top form and Ferrari gives him a competitive car. 

Verstappen in the same situation.

Russell in the same situation.

And surprise surprise, Newey builds the fastest car on the grid and Stroll is the fastest driver because of it. 

[retreat]

-snip-
And surprise surprise, Newey builds the fastest car on the grid and Stroll is the fastest driver because of it. 

That would likely be a plot twist that F1 fans would never have expected lol.


And maybe many of you may have forgotten about Zhou Guanyu, but after he parted ways with Ferrari as their reserve driver, he was immediately recruited by Cadillac as their reserve driver. Zhou was one of the strong candidates to be Cadillac's driver before, but he fell through when Bottas and Perez were confirmed as their drivers. With Zhou becoming Cadillac's reserve driver, it means that he will bring his experience as both an F1 driver at Sauber and a reserve driver at Ferrari to Cadillac.

[tokeweed]

Here's another scenario that could possibly happen...  With the new specs and the new engines, it means that there will be reliability issues.  But which engine would be most likely be very reliable?  I think it's gonna be the Mercedes engine since they're mostly ahead on V6 Turbo research and development.

So how do we make money from this..?  Bet on Russell to win the world drivers championship at the start of the season.  

[Volgastallion]

Mmmm RedBull being the first to reveal their livery and car? Let me guess they are gonna show something so everyone starts to see what they do and after it they are gonna change everything for the pre season test and everyone who try to cpy something is gonna be in poor condition, i can smell a fake presentation from RedBull.

[retreat]

Here's another scenario that could possibly happen...  With the new specs and the new engines, it means that there will be reliability issues.  But which engine would be most likely be very reliable?  I think it's gonna be the Mercedes engine since they're mostly ahead on V6 Turbo research and development.

So how do we make money from this..?  Bet on Russell to win the world drivers championship at the start of the season.  

In terms of development, Mercedes and Red Bull are also claimed to have an advantage over other teams. In fact, both teams have found a gap in compression ratios that could give them an edge. However, until we see it in FP1 in Melbourne, it's all noise, and it's unclear which team has the more reliable engine. So it's still too early to conclude who truly has the better advantage, but it's definitely not Ferrari, lol.

[tokeweed]

^  Considering that next year will be the start of having the new specs and the new engines...  'Development' won't be the only important factor to watch out for.  The more important thing is reliability and esp in the first few months of the season.  I'm expecting more engine blow ups than expected.  Could be one or two every couple of races or so.  

Red Bull's Ford engine could be getting their fair share of blow ups since it's a new entry imho.  When was the last time Ford built F1 engines?

Edit:  2004 with Ford- Cosworth.  And from what I remember, that team sucked.

[Koal-84]

1. January 15: Red Bull, Racing Bulls
2. January 20: Audi, Honda engines
3. January 23: Alpine, Haas, Ferrari
4. February 8: Cadillac
5. February 9: Aston Martin

Even though Renault has stepped away from supplying power units, the 2026 season will still feature five different power units manufacturers. The grid is powered by a diverse lineup and with Honda and Audi entering the arena as new contenders, the big question is: Can the newcomers match the pace of the established giants?

Here’s the teams line up with their engine partners for 2026:

Mercedes (4): Alpine, McLaren, Mercedes, Williams
Ferrari (3): Ferrari, Cadillac, Haas
Red Bull/Ford (2): Racing Bulls, Red Bull
Audi (1): Audi
Honda (1): Aston Martin

The battle of the power units is shaping up to be one of the most exciting storylines of the season, last year we see Alpine with the worst power unit Renault on the end of the field, let’s see who brings the horsepower to dominate the field.

[tokeweed]

So the early odds for the F1 2026 season outrights are out.  And I thought the books were gonna overlook Mercedes' reliability and line Russell up at around over 5.00 to win the drivers championship. But it looks like they're onto it and lined him up at 3.60 in the lead to be drivers champ along with the same odds as Verstappen. 

I feel like Verstappen isn't gonna finish in the top 3 with that Ford engine.  Dunno tho...    But what do you guys think?

[retreat]

So the early odds for the F1 2026 season outrights are out.  And I thought the books were gonna overlook Mercedes' reliability and line Russell up at around over 5.00 to win the drivers championship. But it looks like they're onto it and lined him up at 3.60 in the lead to be drivers champ along with the same odds as Verstappen. 

I feel like Verstappen isn't gonna finish in the top 3 with that Ford engine.  Dunno tho...    But what do you guys think?

Yes, sources I've read also show Russell and his Mercedes team leading the 2026 Formula 1 championship odds, along with Max Verstappen and Red Bull, followed by McLaren. It seems the bookmakers see a strong potential in the Mercedes engine, which could perform very well in the 2026 season, especially after the new technical regulations are implemented, which Mercedes seems to be taking advantage of very well.

However, this is still just a prediction, as the teams are still competing to improve their cars' performance this season, and many other variables could influence the outcome. But given Mercedes' progress and their history with hybrid-powered cars, they might make a breakthrough this season.

[tokeweed]

^  A break through?  Nah...  Due to the new specs and new engines, as I have already said a couple of posts up, it will all come down to reliability.  And since Mercedes is way ahead of everyone in the V6 Turbo's development then it's most likely that their engines will be the most reliable.

So check which cars are using the Mercedes engine.    As for Red Bull, expect their cars to break down at the middle of some races this year.  Lol.  The frustration might be enough for Verstappen to start considering leaving Red Bull.

[retreat]

So check which cars are using the Mercedes engine.    As for Red Bull, expect their cars to break down at the middle of some races this year.  Lol.  The frustration might be enough for Verstappen to start considering leaving Red Bull.

Red Bull needs to provide the best car for Max this season, since if he can fight, he'll stay, otherwise, he'll be given the red carpet by the top gun. So, this will be a very challenging season for Red Bull and Ford - as Toto Wolff's assessment that Red Bull-Ford, as a newcomer, has "Mount Everest to climb" says a lot. They need to step up their engine development to catch up with Mercedes - it's very challenging, but there's no other way to keep Max in the team.

[tokeweed]

2026 is here, which means the 2026 regulations are in place and ready to be unveiled to F1 fans. Fans will have the opportunity to see the 2026 designs ahead of the season. For now, here are some of the confirmed names that will unveil their designs:

1. January 15: Red Bull, Racing Bulls
2. January 20: Audi, Honda engines
3. January 23: Alpine, Haas, Ferrari
4. February 8: Cadillac
5. February 9: Aston Martin

The launch date for the other teams is still unknown.

Complete launch dates are found here:  https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/all-the-key-pre-season-dates-for-f1-2026.78yHe2X9REWIH1RXjCQoaJ

It also says that private pre season tests in Barcelona will happen on Jan 26 - 30 then there's the pre season tests in Bahrain on Feb 11 - 13 and Feb 18 - 20.  After all that, it's the Australian GP on March 6 - 8.  Damn the break feels so short these days.  Before it felt like it took forever before the next season.

[retreat]

Audi became the first team to test their 2026 car. Audi's car was given a handful of laps around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. On this occasion, Audi tested their R26* - which still uses a Sauber chassis for the most part, so it's not the car they'll be using this season. Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto were both given the opportunity to test the car so the team could gain useful data going forward.

So few pictures are published, that only pictures this bad can be seen.

[Republikcoin.com]

After a long time, today we finally saw the launch of the MotoGP bike from the Prima Pramac Racing team, with their star riders, Jack Miller and Toprak, who have extensive experience in WSBK. In terms of the livery itself, there are slight differences from last season, although not particularly striking, but the changes are still there and quite nice. Furthermore, I'm also eagerly awaiting the launch of Valentino Rossi's team livery, which will likely be unveiled soon.

[tokeweed]

Audi became the first team to test their 2026 car. Audi's car was given a handful of laps around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. On this occasion, Audi tested their R26* - which still uses a Sauber chassis for the most part, so it's not the car they'll be using this season. Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto were both given the opportunity to test the car so the team could gain useful data going forward.

So few pictures are published, that only pictures this bad can be seen.

Any recorded sounds made by that Audi engine?   

Would be nice to hear it.  Some people say that the engines are slightly louder for the 2026 engines.  But the question is what does 'slightly' actually mean?  Will it have no difference from last year's engines or will it be 'slightly' loud? 

Man I can't wait for this season to start..  Cars with the Mercedes engines will be the most reliable esp at the start of the season me thinks.