Formula 1 2026 Season Discussion

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Jaxson

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#323510 10-Dec-2025 11:59

New thread for the coming 2026 F1 Season

A big year ahead with new technical regulations significantly different to previous seasons.

Lots of questions to be answered this coming year

Cadillac and Audi in the competition
New Engine supplier change around - Honda to Aston etc
No DRS / Mechanical Aero
Z-mode with front and rear wings closed, X-mode can be deployed at times (not in wet?) to open wings up
50-50 split between electric power and the internal combustion engine (with nearly a 300 per cent increase in electrical power)
No Heat Recovery system, so kinetic braking harvesting only
Cars a bit smaller

Lots of variables in there. Will see see a surprise rise or fall in the mix?
No guarantees form this year will translate directly into next year immediately.

Will teams not fighting for titles have switched development across earlier this season to maximise the new regs of 2026?
Lower teams get more wind tunnel time so was Ferrari actually cooking something up for 2026?
And how will NZ driver Liam Lawson fare next year with a new rookie teammate?

Bring it on!

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#3442306 10-Dec-2025 12:23

Season 2026 prediction: some kind of shambles. Between new teams, the Red Bull 2.0 reboot, most of the teams binning off 2025 developments to focus on 2026, new fuel, tyres, batteries and movable aero, someone is going to get it very right and someone very wrong. Hope it is an entertaining shambles, at least!

nzkc

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#3442506 10-Dec-2025 20:09

Biggest unknown to me is Alpine. They had a crap engine this year but have Mercedes next year. I'm not a fan of Briatore... but have to accept his racing record. They could suddenly be a contender. For Gasly I hope so (he's a better driver than the team he's in).

Shindig

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#3442585 11-Dec-2025 06:23

Lewis Hamilton to be dropped by Ferrari around race 4 or 5.

The little things make the biggest difference.

mudguard

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#3442596 11-Dec-2025 08:01

I must admit to not being super enthused about 2026. I've always been a manufacturer fan rather than a driver fan, Honda in particular. So the thought of supporting Aston Martin isn't really that appealing. Yes there's Alonso and Newey. But I prefer seasons near the end of regulations, look how close the qualifying times were for Abu Dhabi.

Obviously there's a risk someone will have a leap on everyone else, like Mercedes into the hybrid era and Red Bull briefly in ground effect so that tends to dull things for me.

Who knows, perhaps I'm being to pessimistic.

tdgeek

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#3442639 11-Dec-2025 10:12

With the ICE being a lesser portion of total horsepower, that gives the teams that are using new engines, especially Red Bull and Cadillac a small buffer, if they can master the electric power

Dairusire

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#3442700 11-Dec-2025 14:02

Honestly, this one is going to be curious. I am certainly hoping it pops off because I'm going to Japan to watch F1 next year xD

If I'm taking a look at WEC to give a baseline for what teams 'could' look like, I genuinely think Cadillac and Audi could be much stronger competitors, especially given the massive shake up in regs.

I am REALLY keen to see what the racing looks like considering we should hopefully see a reduction in the prevalence of DRS trains. Fingers crossed a lot more challenging passes, less 'straight' overtaking.

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PolicyGuy

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#3442710 11-Dec-2025 14:56

Shindig:

Lewis Hamilton to be dropped by Ferrari around race 4 or 5.

Very unlikely IMO

On the other hand, if his results are mediocre I wouldn't be at all surprised if Hamilton announced his retirement after Monaco (Round 8), either with immediate effect or with effect from the Summer break.
If Hamilton does quit (jump or pushed) it will set up an almighty scramble for seats.
Google AI suggests that Zhou Guanyu is the reserve Ferrari driver, but if Hamilton quits I could see him very rapidly traded for a perceived-quicker driver.

mudguard

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#3442711 11-Dec-2025 15:04

tdgeek:

With the ICE being a lesser portion of total horsepower, that gives the teams that are using new engines, especially Red Bull and Cadillac a small buffer, if they can master the electric power

Or they get it wrong and wind up clipping down the straights ala Honda's return to McLaren

Shindig

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#3442849 11-Dec-2025 20:21

Forget Hamilton.

First off, Drive to Survive 2025! All the Red Bull shenanigans!

The little things make the biggest difference.

Ragnor

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#3442927 12-Dec-2025 02:47

I'm getting on the hype train for Fernando, Newy designed/led Aston with Honda power - it has all the ingredients to make the dream a reality.

Oldest F1 champ since Fangio incoming!

Jaxson

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#3443100 12-Dec-2025 13:11

Ragnor:

I'm getting on the hype train for Fernando, Newy designed/led Aston with Honda power - it has all the ingredients to make the dream a reality.

Oldest F1 champ since Fangio incoming!

I'd get behind this. It's where I thought Verstappen may have been headed a while back when he was seen with Mercedes etc. The link to Honda is there and it was nice to see him mention them after the last race this year.

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mudguard

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#3443102 12-Dec-2025 13:17

Jaxson:

Ragnor:

I'm getting on the hype train for Fernando, Newy designed/led Aston with Honda power - it has all the ingredients to make the dream a reality.

Oldest F1 champ since Fangio incoming!

I'd get behind this. It's where I thought Verstappen may have been headed a while back when he was seen with Mercedes etc. The link to Honda is there and it was nice to see him mention them after the last race this year.

I think on Verstappen's case there is probably no harm in waiting a year and see which car got it right, then going. Just can't see the Ford unit being marvellous out of the box.

Jvipers2

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#3443156 12-Dec-2025 18:36

Predictions would be Merc will dominate in the early few races. They're a team that has experience in movable aero parts and hybrid power trains, so I'm confident they'll be good from the get go...

McLaren & RB will be behind initially due to the long battle, especially with RB still developing the car late into 2025...

Cadillac will be a couple of seconds behind, like how all new teams in F1 will debut.

And sadly, Lawson will be beaten by rookie teammate again unless he can change his mindset and mentality competing in F1, not the junior series...

Jaxson

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#3443277 12-Dec-2025 20:53

The amount of car damage Liam is wracking up might need to be a focus point into next year. It's not closed wheel nascar etc.

I'd like to see Ferrari do better but wow what an own goal team they are. They finished down the order a bit so should get more wind tunnel time and hopefully they did poorly this year because they switched focus early to 2026 regs etc.

thermonuclear

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#3443851 14-Dec-2025 15:04

Jaxson:

New thread for the coming 2026 F1 Season

A big year ahead with new technical regulations significantly different to previous seasons.

Lots of questions to be answered this coming year

Already looking forward to the new season but not really looking forward to the new specifications. More reliance on battery power is not what Formula 1 is about or should be about. There must be plenty of development being funnelled through to environmentally friendly road vehicles from Formula E, this series should have combustion engines as king and preferably V10's.

Anyway, we will see what happens. Battery deployment might be clever for a short while but the novelty will soon wear off for fans if racing becomes more of a science experiment than pedal to the metal flat-out racing. It was bad enough this season with Ferrari's lift and coast car. If you have 22 cars doing much the same thing in 2026 and the fans sense that the cars could go quicker, it's not going to be popular.

Remember when you could refuel the cars in-race and they could drive at 10/10th's all the time. The sport is losing its way.

Dinosaur-rant over.

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