r/F1Technical

In the 1990s, perhaps the start of the modern era, there were ~16 races a season. We're now up to ~24. What impact has this had on teams? Were cars and drivers working for the next event for longer in the 1990s or did the teams have more rest/break periods?

(Used AI to help clean up grammar/formatting on this, but the take is mine)

Sorry if this has already been done to death somewhere in the sub, I looked around and didn’t see a dedicated thread, figured it’s better as its own post than a buried comment nobody sees.

So Max and Lewis are both saying this weekend could be rough because of the power unit limitations, and I can’t stop thinking about one idea: what if they just stuck a chicane somewhere, Hangar Straight, or maybe right after Copse before Maggotts, purely to force more braking so the batteries can actually recharge?

Why I think it’s not as crazy as it sounds:

Silverstone’s whole identity is high speed corners taken flat out. But right now the cars are already losing serious speed mid corner because they’re out of battery. So that “flat out” character is already broken under these regs anyway. A chicane isn’t ruining the track’s soul, it’s just admitting what’s already happening out there.

Counterarguments, and why I still land on chicane:

1. “You’d be wrecking one of the most iconic sections in F1”
   Yeah, Maggotts-Becketts-Chapel is untouchable in theory. But if cars are already crawling through there because they’ve got no juice, the iconic version is already gone in practice even if it looks the same on the track map.

2. “This is a band-aid, just fix the actual regs”**
   Probably true long term. But rule changes take years. A track tweak could be tested way sooner as a stopgap while they sort the real fix.

3. “Chicanes are always hated, drivers and fans both”

Also true, most chicanes exist purely to slow cars down for safety (old Monza vibes). But one placed specifically to create a real braking zone for regen is different, it could actually add a strategic layer around energy management instead of just being a speed bump.

4. “Why Silverstone specifically, other tracks have this too”

Fair, but Silverstone’s combo of long straights into sustained high speed corners with almost no braking makes it a worse case than most.

Anyway, curious what people who actually understand the energy deployment side think. Real fix or am I missing something obvious here?

This post got removed from main F1 subreddit without any indication. So I’m posting here…

You can read the full report here: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/408219090_Austrian_Grand_Prix_2026_-_Post_Race_Analysis

Any feedback and recommendations are more than welcome! I am trying to improve.

FIGURE 1. Gap to race leader by lap. Public timing data; virtual safety car windows shaded. The trace shows the shape of the race:Russell stays close to zero, the front group remains compressed, and cars that retire stop where their data stops.

FIGURE 2. The attack, the stops, and the second pass. Verstappen attacks on lap 11, but Hamilton is still ahead at lap end. Hamiltonstops on lap 13, Verstappen on lap 19, and Verstappen then makes the decisive on-track pass on lap 22. Source: public lap timing.

Speed around the lap. A representative lap for each driver, aligned by distance. The traces overlay through the corners; the small separations are on the straights. Source: public speed and distance traces.

Closing, not passing. Antonelli takes around three and a half seconds out of Verstappen across the last 11 laps and finishes less than half a second short. Source: public lap timing.

The odd ones out. In finishing order. Both Ferraris carry an extra stop relative to the leading two stop runners around them.Source: public stint and compound data

Leaders' race pace. Clean laps only. The field is close; the strategy noise is mostly Ferrari

Where the place was decided. The lead changes are at the stops, shown by the large swings, not on track. Norris closes hard at the end but the pass does not come.

Bonus:

https://preview.redd.it/6u399jk6yaah1.png?width=4681&format=png&auto=webp&s=930dfa81f4302c90118d69f99bff50742d74f513

https://preview.redd.it/zpn05jhfyaah1.png?width=4385&format=png&auto=webp&s=b0451a675d4331389eb50e09e589959ce0b4ffc3

https://preview.redd.it/7ukb9vxhyaah1.png?width=3060&format=png&auto=webp&s=76fc0f072a192e7fc31bee8b9d660e658c85c92d

I understand why you want hot, sticky tyres but why are cooler track temps more desirable and higher grip and hot track temps?

Hi,

I am beginning to learn about the developments in Japan with DMR, from what I can tell skin friction drag can be reduced via random distributions of micro disturbances on smooth bodies anywhere between 38 to 58 micrometers. And that this drag reduces delays the onsent of turbulence on surfaces, and is not a simple "delaying of flow seperation "golf-ball dimple" effect".

It also seems that this is not the same as "shark skin rivets" but way more effective than that.

In my gut, I always have felt that optimized skin texture had to be tied to fractal patterns, but this new info has me thinking that randomness has been the key.

Bye Bye super clean perfect slippery shapes on F1 bodies? Or will the Mechanics atleast be stopping their fanatical waxing and cleaning of the cars' bodies while in the pits? I wonder!

***EDIT—***explaining the logic behind this idea:
A lot of modern technical regulations have evolved to keep cost down so smaller teams could compete—like getting rid of the MGU-H. Also exotic metal bans, active suspension bans, mass damper bans, FRICS, etc.

I think these regulations were totally necessary at the time for the health of the sport. But in my mind, a cost-cap is a better way to address these issues. Following from this logic, you would expect to see a more relaxed ruleset, but it feels like we have gotten the opposite. The cars are incredibly similar, and regulations are more complex than ever. My main point here is that the pendulum of overregulation should swing back given the new cost cap.

I recently watched a great documentary about Can-AM called "Speed Odyssey"

In the 60s-70s, can-am raced with an extremely relaxed set of regulations, resulting in faster lap times than F1 and incredible diversity-of-concepts amongst the cars.

Pre-cost cap, this is obviously untenable for modern F1. But with a cost cap, why not allow F1 teams to build whatever they want, retaining only technical regulations that are focused on safety standards?

here are my pros and cons of this (obviously unrealistic) idea.

Pros:

• Extreme diversity among the car concepts—every team would likely be recognizable even without paint on the car
• Extreme uptick in innovative designs (think 70s F1 with teams trying out new and wacky stuff)
• Limited by cost-cap, so teams will likely choose certain areas to focus their innovations
• A return to the (albeit romanticized) "pinnacle of motorsport", where these are truly the fastest cars you can build for $X amount of money.
• (Maybe) more mechanical DNFs with experimental designs.
• (Maybe) a return to high powered, high revving engines.

Cons:

• Probably a complete loss of parity. There seems to be a split between F1 fans who want to see close racing and fans that are more interested in engineering. As an American fan, IndyCar supplies me with all the close racing I could ask for—so I fall more into the second camp (also, I think non-spec-series efforts for parity are futile anyways, look at Mercedes right now)
• Teams that get it wrong with design would struggle even more to catch up, so more testing-time/cost cap bonuses would likely need to be dished out to lower-placed teams.

I can't think of anything else at the moment, but I am really curious to hear your thoughts!

When and why did Alpine switch from their own version of the rear flap to the more common one?

Did they have trouble with airflow reattachment? Although it was believed that is better in that regard.

With forecast for warmer conditions in the Alps, what teams will benefit or get punished by this? Ferrari did seem to have better temperature control of the tires, but they are also running the engines hotter with more boost pressure. How will this play out? How about Mercedes and Red Bull?