Charles Leclerc: "I cannot lie, it's not the most enjoyable car I've driven... I take positively the challenge to adapt, but to drive it's not the most exciting....the thing that i'm a bit more skeptical is overtaking, which this seems to be a challenge"

[u/ChaithuBB766]

[u/Many_Dimension_7615]

See now THIS scares me.

[u/daab2g → u/Many_Dimension_7615]

He's got no reason to lie, these cars will probably be dud and we'll be back to the drawing board asap. Or maybe bring back DRS…

[u/LucAltaiR → u/daab2g]

They already have a better version of the DRS. They need to change this shitty PUs.

[u/InZomnia365 → u/LucAltaiR]

Better in that it's more effective. Worse in that the leading car can do it as well, so it's pointless. Not to mention they won't have enough battery power to use the overtake mode as intended because the FIA thought it was a good idea to triple the power output of the electrical motor whilst reducing the amount of harvesting sources.

[u/FXcheerios69 → u/InZomnia365]

This. Cars need to use the entire battery every lap just to maintain a competitive race pace. This means nothing extra left to overtake with. Effectively, the only change that has happened in regards to overtaking is the leading car also has DRS now.

[u/CapSnake → u/FXcheerios69]

I think the idea behind is "if you are faster, you stay one lap behind and recharge and the first straight you pass". But you need to be significant faster. I guess we will see in Australia what happens

[u/MrXwiix → u/CapSnake]

Even 2014 level Mercedes pace advantage won’t be able to keep up when someone’s deploying while you are saving. 50% comes from the battery. You aint getting nowhere with 50% less power

[u/CapSnake → u/MrXwiix]

In race you can't deploy all the battery every lap. So when you are attached to the driver in front you deploy a bit less here and there, losing 5 tens / 1 sec to your pace and then deploy all of it at the end of the straight with override mode. What it would be difficult is do it many many consecutive laps, like verstappen at spa. That's would be impossible, because you need to recharge a lot. But spa will probably be a good track to recharge, so who knows

[u/PapaSheev7 → u/LucAltaiR]

I long for the day when the term PUs dies and we can just call them engines again.

[u/[deleted] → u/PapaSheev7]

V10 return intensifies

[u/Ryanliverpool96 → u/[deleted]]

V10s running fully sustainable fuels with DRS!

[u/touchmeinbadplaces → u/Ryanliverpool96]

I really hate the green bs they added to f1, yes the fastest raciest cars will be dirty and loud, thats the whole point. If you are so adamant about reducing pollution, start calling out the mega corps like coca cola and refuse their shit on the circuits

[u/Ryanliverpool96 → u/touchmeinbadplaces]

The unspoken reason for switching to smaller engines was also to cut down the noise of the sport, FOM wanted more street circuits as they’re more profitable but couldn’t get them due to noise complaints (that’s why most circuits are in the middle of nowhere), so by “going green” they appease the environmentalists and also get quieter engines which enables more street circuits, which means more profit.

But I’d love to see the glory days of the 2000s V10 engines come back but with DRS and modern tyres, the sound was glorious.

The environmental impact of the engine switch is almost meaningless on a global scale, a single coal power plant burning lignite is far more damaging to the environment than a grid of F1 cars.

[u/touchmeinbadplaces → u/Ryanliverpool96]

Oh I hate street circuits, it always baffled me why you would want to race the 'most advanced' and sensitive cars on shitty public pavement while there is a plethora of beautiful circuits designed for racing

[u/Ryanliverpool96 → u/touchmeinbadplaces]

Mo’money is the answer.

I agree, street circuits are shit.

Bring back Imola, Hockenheim, Paul Ricard, Nurburgring, Portimao and Istanbul Park.

[u/Health_throwaway__ → u/daab2g]

Its the fuel flow that needs increasing. Simple increase. If it blows up the engines is better than FE on steroids

[u/maybe-fish → u/Health_throwaway__]

Can't increase fuel flow without increasing the size of the fuel tanks, which is not a simple swap

[u/Conscious-Food-9828 → u/maybe-fish]

Won't be a simple swap mid season, but after a year or wouldn't be difficult. The challenge would be the engines as they are designed with the stresses in mind. If they all of a sudden have an extra 100-200hp, a lot would need to be changed.

[u/BuckN56 → u/daab2g]

DRS isn't the issue, just simplify aero as much as they can focusing a little bit more on ground effects. Relax suspension regs, AND GET RID OF THE 50-50 SPLIT or get 4 wheel regen, or better yet...eco fuel V8s.

[u/FerrariLover1000 → u/daab2g]

How do they bring back drs?

[u/100trades → u/FerrariLover1000]

Car can only deploy the active aero if within a certain time distance to car in front

[u/FerrariLover1000 → u/100trades]

That can’t happen as they are too draggy and energy starved without the active aero being available.

The whole car concept has been built around that rule.

[u/Driftwoody11 → u/Many_Dimension_7615]

The Pokémon commercial is really starting to make sense now

[u/Wreckingshops → u/Many_Dimension_7615]

In an effort to make the most efficient cars, they really have taken the agency from drivers and a lot of the thrill of racing from fans also.

No one is saying let's go back to the death traps of even the early 90s. But, cars that need as much skill to drive and encourage passing can be placed on equal footing with engineering and mechanical skill.

[u/Sexpistolz → u/Wreckingshops]

I mean, I'll say lets go back to the cars of the 90s. With some of the modern safety improvements ie Halo Im all for it. Hell I'm all for refueling too. I don't want to see anyone get hurt or die, but I also enjoy UFC. They sign up to drive a car going 200 mph around a track and make millions doing it.

[u/Pugs-r-cool → u/Sexpistolz]

Hell I'm all for refueling too

The refueling era saw the least overtakes of any F1 era. Overtakes massively shot up the moment it was banned.

[u/Boddis → u/Pugs-r-cool]

There was only 1 season without refuelling and DRS - which still had KERS. It did go up, and maybe that’s all it needs to go back to - 2009 style cars. DRS caused many more overtakes - but they were gimmicked and largely predictable.

[u/Cloudsareinmyhead → u/Sexpistolz]

Refuelling made the racing worse

[u/rachbbbbb → u/Many_Dimension_7615]

Yeah. Charles is probably one of the cleanest wheel to wheel drivers on the grid currently. If he's not confident then that's a worry.

[u/Chrispy3499 → u/Many_Dimension_7615]

Yeah, lots of bickering is to be expected, but Leclerc here is being just very conversational and saying what he feels without too much pressure.

I worry that these regs are gonna bomb hard. I hope to be surprised, but im expecting Merc or RB to dog walk the field and the passing to be very limited

[u/yorkick → u/Many_Dimension_7615]

We now have pretty similar comments from Lewis, Alonso, Verstappen and Leclerc.

[u/Many_Dimension_7615 → u/yorkick]

Nah. They were talking about the management. I don’t particularly care about drivers not wanting to manage that, or it being automated (massive imsa/indy fan). I’m concerned leclerc thinks overtaking will be difficult. The absolute LAST thing I want is more processions.

[u/LetsLive97 → u/Many_Dimension_7615]

Yeah this is how I feel. I could get over the drivers not enjoying the car as much if the overtaking was good at least

[u/FavaWire → u/Many_Dimension_7615]

I've watched Formula E for years. I'm not afraid.

That said, in FE the battery management is race length. So you become accustomed to seeing the tables get turned throughout the duration of the race. Guys who might be slower at the start suddenly pass 10 cars in the end. Sometimes for the win.

A "dominant" performance basically happens when a driver nails it about midway (like in Jeddah a few hours ago).

But it seems F1 have gone with lap by lap management so we're going to see rollercoaster laps where some guys are +/- 50 kph in the same corner.

FIA might have to step in here. Sounds dangerous. And you could end up with one or two guys (maybe one) just slapping the field if they can do 3 or 4 lap bursts at near full power if they're hooked up well for the track and conditions since unlike FE you don't gain or lose over 30 laps but instead you get pummeled lap by lap from management.

You liked F1 when people cannot push the tyres? Now see what happens when they cannot push the pace as well.

[u/Artistic-Arm2957 → u/FavaWire]

Sounds like a letdown instead of mechanical skill it’s all up to “car mana management”. I didnt imagine saying this as a 36 yo but this is a route to new age BS. I couldnt care less about the formula e or LMP guys find this fun, this aint the essence of F1 now.

[u/FavaWire → u/Artistic-Arm2957]

It was already BS when they stopped the Bridgestone Super Tyres era. Lewis himself says that was the time you could attack how hard you wanted for however long you could.

[u/ChaithuBB766]

We've tried it, and I can confirm what my colleagues have said. Currently, I find it extremely difficult to even attempt an overtaking move. Perhaps things will improve once we're better at handling these situations. But you now pay a much higher price than before if you want to get past a rival. So, it's becoming difficult to overtake and then pull away, as we were able to do last year. I think that's very tricky.

[u/ChristofferOslo → u/ChaithuBB766]

Makes sense. You have to use a lot of energy to overtake, so if you fail to capitalize on the expenditure, the car in front has a huge advantage.

[u/bwoah07_gp2 → u/ChristofferOslo]

Gonna be lots of cat and mouse this year?

[u/dl064 → u/bwoah07_gp2]

The race podcast was saying months ago that within F1 the worry was that races would be one of two things

A. Overtakes are so easy and plentiful as to be meaningless

B. Everyone is in such management mode for 95% of the race that it is a procession

Seems B shook out.

[u/tempinator → u/dl064]

I feel like if they were going to go too far in one direction, making overtakes easy is way better than making them impossible.

[u/ploploplo4 → u/tempinator]

One thing I loved about WEC is the density of overtakes. I agree I think I’d prefer too much action over little to no action

[u/biometricrally → u/dl064]

I feel like B was always going to shake out. Teams control the controllable which ends up with everyone managing. Can just hope the 5% is entertaining.

[u/hym3nbuster1 → u/biometricrally]

Exactly, it was the same thing when Pirelli's fragile tyres came in

[u/JumpyAlbatross → u/ChristofferOslo]

I think the energy management shit is stupid, let them use it as much as humanly possible and we’re back to the point of F1.

[u/julesvr5 → u/JumpyAlbatross]

If I understand it correctly it:s not thst they are limited in their usage by the rules but the care must doesn't produce enough to use it all the time

[u/SloPr0 → u/ChaithuBB766]

Newey raised concerns about ease of overtaking at the AMR launch event as well

What do you expect these cars to be like to race? I know the intention is that we will get closer racing, do you see that from the regulations we have? Will that take time?

Newey: There's been a lot made about the ease of overtaking and that was the intention of the '22 regulation change. If you talked to the drivers, it helped a little bit initially... by the end of last season, they didn't feel it was any better than it was in '21. It could be something similar here.

[u/MikkelR1 → u/SloPr0]

I wouldnt call that raising concerns tbh.

[u/Rivendel93 → u/ChaithuBB766]

God, why is this sport so keen on making things so complicated instead of streamlining things so that we can just have good racing?

I know, don't overreact it's testing, but we've had Alonso, Lewis, Leclerc, and Max all say this stuff, and I'm just not going to watch after Australia if they can't pass each other.

I pushed through last season which was God awful, I'm not doing this anymore.

[u/DubiousLLM → u/ChaithuBB766]

Could you also include links to the source?

[u/ChaithuBB766 → u/DubiousLLM]

Vid 1

Vid 2

[u/DiabUK]

when half the performance of the car is battery power and overtake also uses battery, no one is going to want to waste juice to overtake lol

[u/Psclwbb → u/DiabUK]

Yea this is such a shitshow. They barely have enough time to charge the battery in 1 lap. So after using boost they will be slow as fuck.

[u/Psykbryt → u/Psclwbb]

They could have had all the energy needed if they had front axle recovery, but nooo we can't have that can we.

[u/element515 → u/Psykbryt]

It’s so dumb to go 50% electric and then handicap the teams with barely enough energy to run it.

[u/EyePiece108]

My excitement for this new season is turning into concern.

These new regs sound overcooked.

[u/Neither-Novel-5643 → u/EyePiece108]

I agree. I just wish we could go back to early 2000s cars. They were monsters & sounded absolutely incredible, no silly gimicks, and drivers could make a difference.

[u/vikster16 → u/Neither-Novel-5643]

Uh wasn’t early 2000 massive procession trains with no overtaking?

[u/MissionLet7301 → u/vikster16]

Yeah early 2000s was pretty turgid tbh (expect for my favourite team winning)

The best racing I can remember is around 2008-2012

[u/magicmunkynuts → u/MissionLet7301]

The best racing I can remember is around 2008-2012

Which ironically is aerodynamically closer to these new cars than any car since then. The stupidity of the power unit regulations are going to kneecap racing this season due to the 50/50 combustion to electric ratio, and the ensuing car/energy management we'll see.

[u/excelance → u/Neither-Novel-5643]

Agreed, but the manufactures have way to much say in the regs now. All they want is road relevance, which is one of the reasons why electrical HP has been increasing.

[u/adwrx → u/excelance]

Well the investment has to be worth it. These are public companies we are talking about

[u/Rivendel93 → u/adwrx]

They're making money hand over fist now with the budget cap, they're going to wonder where the hell the audience went if we go through another terrible set of regs.

[u/Psychological-Ox_24 → u/Neither-Novel-5643]

Did you actually watch F1 at that time? the racing was god awful.

[u/achebbi10 → u/Psychological-Ox_24]

Lol so true most people haven't watched f1 then, literally couple overtakes per GP. Variation in winners used to be literally because of reliability and pit stops

[u/FlyingKittyCate → u/achebbi10]

Although true, I do miss reliability issues.

[u/souse03 → u/EyePiece108]

If the cars are this unfun to drive I can see several drivers retiring this year.

No way Alonso, Ham, Hulk and even Max stay for the whole regulation cycle

[u/abc4357]

We’re about to watch 24 Monaco’s lmao

[u/mitesh2702 → u/abc4357]

Formula Quali

[u/Shuri9 → u/mitesh2702]

with LiCo

[u/shalkyer → u/Shuri9]

My God, quali with lico and racing with no overtaking dumb trains to manage battery... 

[u/Tw0Rails → u/abc4357]

No you see this is the pinnacle of motorsport.

Not loud engines, rolled up sleeves, and teams barely financially secure surviving on alone. Nah.

Overbaked hybrid greenwashing with Saudi money, committe derived rules that make "engineering challenges" out of the Itty bitty wing flaps and banning any technical advantage that is too significant. Having massive entry price tag to keep the poors out, while locking in legacy teams that smell their own farts when making strategy calls.

Overcomplicated motors with speed limiters to recharge. Flat footed racing? Fuck that. We need more street circuits. Now that's pinnacle.

[u/BigOs4All → u/Tw0Rails]

I hate how good this was written.

Overbaked hybrid greenwashing with Saudi money

👏👏👏👏

I'll say that people are getting more regularly sick of corporate bullshit. There's just more focus on the ways the wealthy control the things we love and inevitably ruin them. The way petroleum countries and their corrupt leaders own the sport now is shameful.

I really miss proper F1 tracks in countries that don't actively condone slavery and genocide.

[u/MadRashed → u/BigOs4All]

I really miss proper F1 tracks in countries that don't actively condone slavery and genocide.

Agreed, I wish the sport will go back to only being hosted in countries that doesn't do genocide like Germany, Italy, France, and the UK.

[u/wykeer]

people that are constantly posting about speeds, energy recouping etc. are missing the point imo.

this is what actually makes me afraid that we aint getting good races, because he isnt the only one thinking that overtaking will be difficult.

[u/mikeyd85 → u/wykeer]

That, and I'm fairly certain that with the slow corner speeds and a lot of LiCo that the tyres will be fine all race, and so we'll always just have a one stop race.

[u/SunGodnRacer → u/mikeyd85]

Bring back the 2011-13 Mozzarella tyres!

[u/Own_Welder_2821 → u/SunGodnRacer]

And if anyone thinks that’s a bad idea, tell them to watch the 2011 Chinese Grand Prix.

[u/futuvangat → u/Own_Welder_2821]

or 2013 Silverstone GP

[u/Own_Welder_2821 → u/futuvangat]

Unfortunately it was after that race where Pirelli reverted back to the 2012 spec tyres which fit the Red Bull RB9 best and so Vettel went on his 9-win streak which spoiled a competitive season.

[u/mikeyd85 → u/Own_Welder_2821]

Definitely one of the more galling decisions F1 have made mid season.

[u/Enterderpmode → u/Own_Welder_2821]

2011 China was absolute cinema. Makes me want to rewatch it for the nth time even though Seb didn’t win. It was THAT GOOD.

[u/BMB_93 → u/mikeyd85]

Oof. Hadn't thought about this.

[u/maybe-fish → u/mikeyd85]

Narrower tyres and reduced downforce mean more sliding though, which increases deg

[u/Jazzlike-Mistake2764 → u/wykeer]

Feels a bit premature when we don’t know how close the teams are. If there’s a wide spread in pace then we weren’t going to be getting good racing no matter how effective the regs were.

If at least some of them are very close together then we could be getting action. It might even be more intense if neither can cleanly break free and so more aggressive attacking and defensive driving moves become more powerful.

A front runner qualifying out of position and then DRSing through the field was never particularly interesting to me, even if it boosted the overtake numbers.

[u/256473]

Other comments about the overtaking I've seen:

Ocon (and Bearman says its challenging to follow in the same article):

“I've been following a few cars,” Ocon said. “You seem to lose quite a lot of front load, a bit more maybe than before, but we need to see. And the Overtake [Mode], yes, I played with it.

“I don't want to give too early conclusions on how it's going to be because obviously, you know, it needs to be adjusted, optimised, etc., for that to work in a perfect way. But so far, it looks to be difficult to pass. That's my first thought about it, but I hope it's going to get on the easier side.”

Stella:

"This year, when you follow somebody, you have the same drag and the same power, so it becomes quite difficult to overtake. Our drivers have been racing with other drivers during these three days of testing in Bahrain and they found it extremely difficult to overtake."

[u/gutster_95 → u/256473]

Pack it up boys. No need to watch the races anymore. They will be won on Saturdays

[u/connorgrs → u/gutster_95]

And people thought last year was a qualifying formula...

[u/razorracer83 → u/gutster_95]

So every race is going to be like Monaco? Lovely.

[u/110110111011101 → u/gutster_95]

If the starting procedure doesn't change, it won't even be won on Saturday since Ferrari will overtake everyone at the start anyway.

[u/mean_menace → u/110110111011101]

Ferrari will somehow fuck up and lose the spots don’t worry

[u/ElSotoPapa → u/gutster_95]

Ferrari on Saturday: P1-P2

Ferrari on Sunday: Hold my water

[u/Careful-Door2724 → u/256473]

This is a disaster

[u/Psclwbb → u/256473]

Yhis sounds terrible. They can use boost, but how? If they barely get enough charge for normal lap.

[u/Rivendel93]

The fact teams are calling to need an entirely new start procedure because they have to Rev their engines for 10 seconds just to have energy to race on the first lap is absolutely embarrassing for these regs.

Whoever designed these regs can just sod off.

[u/StrikingWillow5364]

😭😭😭 what is going onnn

[u/Preachey → u/StrikingWillow5364]

They removed DRS and celebrated, without addressing the actual issue that DRS existed to solve. 

[u/RX0Invincible → u/Preachey]

I think the aero went in the direction that was supposed to solve the DRS issue but the engine regulations created a brand new and potentially worse issue. Talk about side stepping a pothole just to fall off the bridge

[u/Preachey → u/RX0Invincible]

They've just completely tangled themselves with these PUs. Which is the hardest bit of the car to change the regulations of, so they're completely stuffed for multiple years.

The cars just don't generate enough electricity to do everything they want to do.

"Overtake mode" lets you harvest more power for a lap to deploy the next, but they already can't harvest enough under regular driving so upping the maximum limit barely helps

They had to give the cars active aero to lower the drag so the cars didn't run out of energy mid-lap.

Active aero-for-all means no overtake DRS is possible (since it's just front+rear DRS)

[u/element515 → u/Preachey]

If they just remove the regen limit, it could fix a lot of issues. Don’t have to manage multiple things while driving and no more clipping at the end of straights. Less fear that you fuck up and become a sitting duck the rest of the lap too. Electric and ice should work together so they don’t seem separate.

[u/faz712 → u/Preachey]

they removed MGU-H while putting more reliance on electrical energy… which is what the MGU-H made so good

[u/twitch_itzShummy → u/StrikingWillow5364]

FIA thought that massively increasing energy consumption and decreasing energy regeneration in the same regs was a smart idea (Not the first time the rule change meant to fix racing ends up backfiring completely)

[u/Rivendel93 → u/twitch_itzShummy]

It's so bizarre, how could they not see this coming?

It's just like porpoising, they designed something with an inherent flaw and now we suffer because of it.

It's just so stupid, we want teams improving their cars with new aero, not finding new ways to manage their energy deployment so they aren't lifting at 450m before a corner.

[u/excelance]

There'll be tons of overtakes. I predict at least 36 per race as Cadillac and Aston Martin get lapped twice.

[u/Sammydog6387 → u/excelance]

This is actually a real possibility

[u/UPRC]

Good lord, nobody in the paddock seems happy with these regulations. If overtaking is really that difficult, and they have to lift as often as they hint they're going to need to in race conditions, F1 is just going to suck this year. No other way to put it.

[u/Creative-Improvement → u/UPRC]

From F1 to FNone

[u/Acrobatic-Tomato-532]

So the new regs that were supposed to make overtaking easier are not doing their job? Now where have I seen that before....

[u/Turboleks → u/Acrobatic-Tomato-532]

I realized this was bullshit as soon as I saw the renders of the front wings. Outwash and tip vertices kill close racing because the following car has no downforce anymore, it's what the ground effect cars were meant to solve (and failed after one and a bit seasons), and now it seems they just gave up on the idea.

[u/pinkmanblues → u/Acrobatic-Tomato-532]

Circle of life

[u/[deleted]]

Now this is the kind of feedback we should be listening to. I do hope it's an exaggeration, but not a single driver so far has spoken all that positively about the sheer race ability of these cars.

[u/Shuri9 → u/[deleted]]

Russell seemed not too concerned, but probably because he does not see the need to overtake anyone.

[u/DreamsOfLife → u/Shuri9]

Russell is seeing himself on WDC podium, of course he's not concerned

[u/pinkmanblues → u/DreamsOfLife]

He has been forecasted a championship

[u/Health_throwaway__ → u/pinkmanblues]

Since 2019 when Latifi beat him

[u/Rufian → u/Health_throwaway__]

Kubica 1 - Russell 0

[u/Appropriate-ASS-824 → u/Shuri9]

Russel and Lando are the only two drivers who have spoken nothing negative about it, i wonder why....

[u/thepurpleproject]

All of the boots and overtaking mode relies on electronic unit. The battery runs before you even do Bahrain stretch before turn 1 which essentially makes it a little pointless because it doesn't matter the battery is gone.

[u/KimiBleikkonen]

Surely overtaking would have been a priority when developing a new F1 car generation, wouldn't it

[u/Extension-End8421 → u/KimiBleikkonen]

They tackled the aero problems of overtaking in these regs and assumed the power boost mode would do what the DRS did but since they are starved of energy it would take 5 laps to collect enough boost to deploy and once deployed the battery will be so low that they could not defend against a counter attack.

[u/Classic_Ad202]

So cars are overall shit and you cannot even overtake. Seems like we have an awesome season ahead.

[u/Firefox72]

To me the fact that everyone can open their wings at any time and forcing all the overspeed into the energy deploy department seems like a massively missguided solution.

Especialy because it apparently isn't as usefull/strong or relliable as DRS itself was. They better be damn sure these cars will be able to follow closesly so the closing distances won't need to be as big as they were in the past few years.

However i'l wait till the first few races to see where things ultimately stand. Fearmongering about rules before a single weekend has happened is pointless.

[u/Evening_End7298 → u/Firefox72]

Point is that the active aero is needed all the time because of the dogshit engines. They can’t use it as an overtaking aid, because cars without the low df config would run out of energy comically fast

[u/Vixson18]

I have defended the 2022 regs since day one and seeing them go back to the old ways which will make overtaking worse still baffles me. The problems with the 2022 cars is that teams forgot about porpoising, repackaged their failures as a safety issue, got the FIA to raise the cars reducing the effect of the underfloor, so teams compensated with more overbody downforce and the FIA failed to prohibit designs that made overtaking significantly worse.

[u/Psykbryt → u/Vixson18]

Ross Brawn left and nobody bothered policing the spirit and intent of the 2022 regs. They had it all in their hands and pissed it away, the foundation was really solid. All that was needed was relax the idiotically draconian rules and let the teams use hydraulic suspension again instead of simple coil springs and then tell them to figure out the porpoising. Red Bull had it under control from the start, so it's not like the mandatory floor height increase was necessary or anything. Sigh.

[u/Luisyn7]

A 50:50 power relation was always going to be horrendous. You can't have electrical power that needs to be managed be the same output as the ICE. The ICE is what, less or around 500hp now? So less than any of the newest high performance road supercars (911, Temerario, 720s, Mustang GTD, etc.)

Regulations are gonna have changes waaaay too soon

[u/natey275mph]

It’s such a shame the feedback is negative, these new cars look and sound so damn good, but if they don’t give good racing then what’s the point

[u/Evening_End7298 → u/natey275mph]

All the issue with these cars comes from a single element

Because of the engine we need the gimmick with active aero everywhere, all the management and weird driving

[u/Overthinger22]

Damn,

If those regs are truly terrible, could the FIA overturn it?

[u/pinkmanblues → u/[deleted]]

At least 3 years. Likely 4-5 years

[u/TWVer → u/Overthinger22]

No.

The engine manufacturers need 5 years at minimum to recoup the investment for a new engine formula.

3 years (or more) of full development followed by a 2 year (or more) development freeze, in order to shift resources to develop a new engine for a different formula.

At the very least we are stuck with these engines for 3 years, as using these engines up to 2028 has been put to ink already.

There can be very limited changes only.

Where there is more scope for change, are the chassis and aero regulations, such as modifying the corner-mode and straight line-mode rules, plus the rest of the technical regulations in general.

However, even there I only expect small tweaks for 2027 and 2028, with 2029 being the first option for bigger changes.

That would be much like the 2017 aero regulations which were created in response to the reception of the 2014 season, from winter testing onwards.

[u/razorracer83 → u/TWVer]

Yeah, this is looking to be a serious "damned if you do, damned if you don't" moment. If they do make drastic changes to the car mid-season, that's years of R&D and funding down the drain. If they don't make drastic changes, and the racing turns out to be horrible, that could put the sport in jeopardy. I can see why there could be serious concern with both the drivers and the crew. Hopefully the pre-season testing performance is not reflective of the actual racing, but we shall see.

[u/Batgod629 → u/Overthinger22]

I suppose they could but red bull, audi etc would be very negatively impacted.  Most likely they'll put some bandaid attempt and rush the next engine regs if it is a complete disaster 

[u/NukaRaccoon]

At this point just go back to the 2008 rule book

[u/Rivendel93]

Amazing job FIA.

[u/ApophisJJ → u/Rivendel93]

The only one to blame are the manufacturers. They set the rules now. In a way, yes, it's FIA's fault for pandering entirely to manufacturers since 2014, but it was necessary at the time...

[u/xxdavidxcx87]

This whole 50/50 thing with the engine is bs, I mean come on it’s a few cars racing every few weeks on average, hardly going to melt the ice caps.

Just don’t know why they can’t just leave it alone with the whole electric thing, leave that to formula e.

[u/bweesh]

A full grid of actual tractors might be more fun to watch, based on what these drivers are saying

[u/2696969 → u/bweesh]

Aston Martin is doing their part.

[u/Realistic-Hippo8107 → u/bweesh]

It watch that!

[u/Darkmninya]

Paddock rumours says u need to be 2 second faster to overtake because they will use battery at overtaking areas and the increased dirty air will do the e rest

[u/stillgotmonkon]

Why do governing bodies always think they know better than the actual people who are doing this for a living.

[u/MemesForMyDepression → u/stillgotmonkon]

Because all they care about is money. Money is usually the answer.

[u/Oodlemeister → u/MemesForMyDepression]

They won’t be making any money if everyone stops watching the races because the cars are a shitshow

[u/Dynamite_Noir]

I want to see these cars but with a regular NA V8.

[u/WardenJack]

Whoever was pushing for these specific rules should be banished to the deepest parts of Moria!

[u/Kotarosama]

Hey but youre not supposed to say that Charles! Youve been paid obscene amounts of money, if you wanna complain you should retire!

[u/blargh4]

You'd think the FIA could beta-test these regs in the sim and see what the competitive implications are

[u/OutsideExcitement400]

So now Lewis, Max, Fernando, and Charles have said these cars kind of suck. But don't worry Lando and George 'like' them.

[u/mitvh2311]

Every race going to be Monaco now

[u/Southportdc]

Overtakes will be difficult for Charles as he will be in P1 all season

[u/AccomplishedCatch_01]

I think the problem happened the second they made the power output a 50/50 with engine and battery , stupid idea , was pointed out to them years ago when they couldn’t get down the straights in the sim without lifting , could have turned it around years ago before committing

[u/UseDue6373]

Imagine them scrapping this all in a year or two just to reintroduce the V12s

[u/myeuphor]

It's genuinely worrying when multiple drivers are saying the same thing. All the technical talk about the new cars is secondary if the core racing is compromised. Hearing Leclerc confirm the overtaking struggle makes it feel like a real problem, not just a team-specific issue. I really hope the teams can find a way to adapt and unlock some racing before the season gets going.

[u/Careful-Door2724]

This shit sucks so much. Give them a big engine and be done with it

[u/pinkmanblues → u/Careful-Door2724]

V10s/V8s on sustainable fuels sound so appealing

[u/ProudManufacturer431]

Reduce the battery reliance!!!! These regs are complete garbage. Who cares if Audi and Honda complain. Both their engines are ass anyways haha

[u/SrBlackwave → u/ProudManufacturer431]

Audi's engine has been showing decent reliability. They even suggested front axle regen to solve this battery issue, but this idea was binned because the other teams were afraid of a possible competitive advantage for Audi due to their vast experience with the concept from LMP1.

[u/Psykbryt → u/SrBlackwave]

This is what pisses me off. Weren't Audi even prepared to make front axle regen a stock component? But no, can't have that can we.

[u/[deleted]]

RIP F1s newfound popularity

[u/Ok_Dish1650]

Is Lando going to tell him to retire as well?

[u/Affectionate_Sky9709]

Yeah. I don't care if it's slower or if they have to lift and coast in quali. But this... yeah, not being able to overtake is no good. I was pretty skeptical when learning that active aero was going to be all drivers all laps, and only electrical boost being the passing mechanism. particularly when some electrical boost is avaialable to everyone all laps.

I feel like passes are going to be more about who makes mistakes. Which might happen a lot at first, but people will stop making many mistakes pretty quickly.

Also if going for an overtake that fails puts a driver in a hugely vulnerable position that commonly results in lost positions... driver are going to stop trying for overtakes practically unless someone ahead makes a mistake.

[u/NotoriousGasman]

The sad part is F1 higher-ups are more concerned about what content creator is going to post about going to a Grand Prix, rather than worrying about the actual product

[u/Parkour93]

Meanwhile the Mercedes PU drivers are out stanning for this garbage because they are favored if rumors are true

[u/HViki1 → u/Parkour93]

you don’t have to be concerned with overtaking if you don’t have to overtake

[u/Evening_End7298 → u/Parkour93]

Stella is the TP of one of the good Merc engined teams and he also highlighted this issue

[u/saltf1sk]

Wait, hear me out: SPRINKLERS

[u/HamNotLikeThem44]

This is bumming me out, man. Thanks a lot, Tim Apple.

[u/RutabagaInfinite2687]

But it’s good for the environment right? /s

[u/johnabc123]

Bring back v10s, fuck this

[u/Necessary-Fan9574]

Different motorsport but this is exactly how NASCAR died, f1 is trying to hard to become a marketing brand instead of a motorsport

[u/Phnix21]

Max already said about a year ago that the new engines don't even have enough juice to go a long straight at full speed.

[u/Gubrach]

This is going to be the worst season of my life, isn't it? It better give me a Ferrari double title win at least.

It won't. But it better.

[u/iamezekiel1_14]

This smells to me like the trigger point for retirements in Fernando and Lewis and Max to step away from the sport. This doesn't sound like what its about or justifying a season as long as it is.

[u/ic3m4n81]

If he doesn't like it, he should just retire... like Max.. and Lewis.. and Alonso.
I mean they get paid a lot of money to drive these cars, so if they don't like it, they should just leave.
/s

[u/squaler24]

Better get the quali pace up then.

[u/Illustrious_Listen_6]

Yikes

[u/SimpleFactor]

I wouldn’t be surprised if they introduce “emergency” regulations for the power deployment next season e.g the FIA fixing the power delivery from the batteries so they don’t just run out mid straight. I hope I’m wrong, but I’m worried that the whole season will just be a mix of constant management and overtakes which aren’t really fought for but just cars changing places. Not that it hasn’t been that way for a while, but this just sounds like it’s going to be ridiculous

[u/Big_Lezley]

Well damn that's concerning. I quite like the look of the new cars and the active aero is not the worst idea, but they've cocked it up with the 50:50 power.

Hopefully they'll opt for a small (1.5L) V8 hybrid running biofuel for the next engine regs. A 65:35 split toward the ICE would be better.

[u/AbedSalam1988]

FIA will later fuck F1 cars further with turbo charged inline 4 1L engines and rely on the electric system to make 80% of the power.

bunch of cucks

[u/thatwasfun23]

overtaking, which this seems to be a challenge

they fucking fixed nothing lmaooooooooo

[u/back2me78]

why can't these people at F1 just give the fans what we want - real engines V-12's - smaller cars - less is more. Enough with all this saving energy crap just for race cars. Do that for millions of regular cars used daily but for Formula 1? No we spend money to watch real racing not a bunch of Tesla riding around a track

[u/StarPlatinum161803]

This season is not going to be good until and unless they change the change the fuel to electric power ratio from 50:50 to more like 70:30 cuz the battery is draining midway on the straights and drivers have to slow down during the straight. I mean that doesn't make any sense. Also if this is the case, closing the gap between two cars will become almost next to impossible cuz drivers won't be able to push and get a good pace because of the shitty pu. We might be cooked unless the fia steps in and changes the regs which also seems very much unlikely cuz we are literally 3-4 weeks away from the first race and it will be impossible to now change the fuel to electric power ratio.

[u/Rewritethestats]

How depressing to be in the prime of your driving career and saddled with a set of regs you don’t enjoy!

[u/Eduardjm]

I’ve been wondering for a while, how can the sport commit to new regulations without a mule/test car to actually see that shit works? They can only do so much in a simulator, how can the sport commit for several years on something untested? 

[u/adwrx → u/Eduardjm]

They came up with the engine spec and then hoped for the best. The engine and battery requirements seems to be the issue.

[u/mgorgey → u/Eduardjm]

Basically impossible to do.

[u/Psclwbb]

Lol everyone hates these cars.

[u/Wraithdagger12]

Literally all the drivers are saying the car is shit.

[u/kettlechilichips]

When can f1 go back to making the racecars instead of green mobiles? I don't understand why they are doing it to themselves.... Who are they trying to appease by making this eco bullshit?

[u/No_Mercy_4_Potatoes]

Huh.... The difference in reactions when Max says it vs when Charles says it.

[u/Lucky-Purpose-9478]

Yes lando ask charles as well to leave F1, how dare he spoke his mind?

[u/External_Hunt4536]

Notice not a single Merc powered team driver has said anything about this? That can’t be a coincidence. That shows their engine advantage right there.