Formula 1 is Deploying New Jargon for 2026 (arstechnica.com) 46
Formula 1's 2026 technical regulations bring not only smaller and lighter cars but an entirely new vocabulary that fans and commentators will need to learn before the season opens in Australia in March. The drag reduction system that has been part of F1 racing since 2011 is gone, replaced by a suite of modes governing how the new active front and rear wings behave and how the hybrid powertrain delivers power. Straight Mode lowers both the front and rear wings to cut drag on designated straights, and unlike the outgoing DRS system any driver can activate it regardless of their proximity to other cars. The story adds: And there's corner mode, where the wings are in their raised position, generating downforce and making the cars corner faster. Those names are better than X-mode and Z-mode, which is what they were being called last year.
[...] Instead of using DRS as an overtaking aid, the hybrid power units will now fulfill that role. Overtake mode, which can be used if a driver is within a second of a car ahead, gives them an extra 0.5 MJ of energy and up to 350 kW from the electric motor up to 337 km/h -- without the Overtake mode, the MGU-K tapers off above 290 km/h. There's also a second Boost mode, which drivers can use to attack or defend a position, that gives a short burst of maximum power.
[...] Instead of using DRS as an overtaking aid, the hybrid power units will now fulfill that role. Overtake mode, which can be used if a driver is within a second of a car ahead, gives them an extra 0.5 MJ of energy and up to 350 kW from the electric motor up to 337 km/h -- without the Overtake mode, the MGU-K tapers off above 290 km/h. There's also a second Boost mode, which drivers can use to attack or defend a position, that gives a short burst of maximum power.
why (Score:1)
sooo F1 is now mario kart? this sounds so dumb.. maybe its still fun to watch? but reading it on paper it sounds like you should just give them all the same car and let them race
Colors matter. (Score:2)
sooo F1 is now mario kart? this sounds so dumb.. maybe its still fun to watch? but reading it on paper it sounds like you should just give them all the same car and let them race
(Engineer) "Alright, activate corner mode."
(Driver) "Blue button. Got it."
(Engineer) "Clear for boost mode."
(Driver) "Green button. Sending."
Gut feeling is when you're forced to react that quickly on a race track to F1 political vernacular, you keep shit real simple.
Re:why (Score:4, Funny)
sooo F1 is now mario kart?
Yes. Each team gets exactly three bananas to drop in "banana mode" for each race. However, banana mode can only be activated if the car is at least 2.17 seconds ahead of the nearest trailing car, unless that trailing car is outside an 18 degree cone whose vertex is at the nose of the lead car. Banana mode cannot be used if a driver has more than 16.5 MJ of energy in the liquid fuel tank, or less than 3.27 MJ of energy in the hybrid battery, nor can it be used if there are less than 37.3km of travel on the current set of tires. Both the lead and trailing car must have a velocity of at least 82.3m/s for banana mode to be active. At most one banana can be dropped between any two pit stops.
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Ok boomer.
Why not cut this crap out. (Score:2)
And just let them race.
This is all done for attention deficient American viewers I reckon.
Re:Why not cut this crap out. (Score:4, Insightful)
Because "just let them race" results in a conga line with almost no passing. The problem is that modern open wheel cars are extremely aero dependent. If you don't have any sort of "push to pass" type feature like DRS or this new battery-boost feature, it becomes almost impossible to pass on most tracks even if you are the significantly faster car. Yes, you could just ban the aero, but then you'd be left with a series that is significantly slower than "feeder" series (or even non-open wheel series).
I'm ready to suspend judgment until we see the new cars in action. It also may take a season or two to really see how it does. It's not unusual for one team to run away with it after a major redesign. It's often the case that only one team figures out how to make the new rules work but they converge towards the end. It's not an accident that the recent seasons where WDC went to the last race (2021 and 2025) were both the year BEFORE a redesign went into effect. Seasons prior (late 2010s) and 2022-2024 had one team running away with it (Mercedes and Red Bull respectively).
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DRS was a way to give the trailing car a much better opportunity to overtake. Without it, may as well declare the winner after qualifying.
I always thought DRS was lame, basically a reward for being behind.... but something had to be done to help those cars get a chance to overtake.
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Arguably any 'sport' you're not engaging-in yourself sucks ass.
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Then generate an argument and lets have it. Points to consider: entertainment value, betting, etc. Have at it. Right now you haven't made an argument, just a baseless opinion.
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Let's go for the low-hanging fruit:
* Living things are driven to exercise using an evolved feedback loop whereby exercise reward us with brain drugs - there's an inherent benefit to exercise leading to increased proliferation of genes with this feedback loop
* Sport is organised exercise so satisfies the drive to socialise - again likely an evolved feedback loop resulting in brain drugs (mmmmn :-) because groups have benefits over individuals
* Standing next to sport whilst it's happening give
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* Living things are driven to exercise
Living things require entertainment. Watching things is entertainment. The question wasn't whether sports is good, the question was whether watching sports is good.
* Standing next to sport whilst it's happening gives some proportion of the same reward
You're supposed to be arguing AGAINST, not for. Did you forget which point you made?
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Cars don't need to be fast to be entertaining unless you are at a drag race. Nimble cars that can pass at any time when the other driver makes a small mistake are much more entertaining. By adding deploy-able wings in the turns they take almost all the chances for a driver to make a mistake in the turn completely out of the competition. Might as well be racing
Re:Why not cut this crap out. (Score:4, Informative)
F1 is barely watched in Australia compared to many other countries in the world. The series just starts there in March. There will be three races in the USA, compared to one in Australia (actually the USA is the only country where more than one race will take place this season).
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No, in Australia, it's, "G'day cunts!"
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Australians are just a lot more comfortable calling each other cunts.
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This is all done for attention deficient American viewers I reckon.
Racist much?
This American considers the current state of the sport a disgrace, and wishes we'd go back to 3-liters run-what-you-brung-regardless-of-cyliner-count, H-gate manual gearbox, and iron brakes.
And if your car can't pass another one due to dirty air from the one in front, tough tits. Design a better, or more clever car.
Furthermore, this American thinks the sport died the instant they put KERS in. And that was a long time ago.
How many here remember Jaques Villueneve being told "We don't know what h
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F1 hasnt been a sport for years.
I dont know of another sport which changes fundamental rules mid-season just because one team is dominating. In F1, it has happened many many times.
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And just let them race.
This is all done for attention deficient American viewers I reckon.
Watch qualifying and you have your answer. Most of the 20 cars are within a second total from fastest to slowest, not a second per car. If you want to see what kind of race that results in just watch Monaco where everyone finishes the race in the position they qualified in unless someone crashes out and then those behind all move up a place.
Will this make drivers relevant again? (Score:4, Insightful)
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Yeah the mercedes when the turbo engines came in was just silly for 2+ years.
I'd say 50% of the grid as opposed to 90%, but similar point.
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Formula E is more interesting, because they are still a long way from there limits of the human drivers, the cars are all the same, and the "gimmicks" like fan boost and on-track power-upa actually make it more interesting.
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The driver has become largely irrelevant in F1.
If we dropped all the driver names into a fishbowl and let them randomly be drawn, how many team owners would find relevancy real damn quick?
With lap times matching in sub-second intervals, I see your mostly irrelevant point. But skill does matter. A snippet of stats from the 2020 season shows there are statistically worse drivers:
Verstappen, Sainz Jr, Leclerc and Gasly were the only drivers to crash that finished in the top half of the drivers’ championship standings. Between them, they accounted for nine of the 26 crashed cars. This means that the bottom 10 drivers were responsible for the remaining 17, making them nearly twice as likely to crash.
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"This means that the bottom 10 drivers were responsible for the remaining 17, making them nearly twice as likely to crash."
While what you say may well be true, you also have to account for being mid pack, especially on the first lap, means you are much more likely to get tangled up in another drivers error, or just both go for the same space. Also, if you happen to be one of the front runners coming through the midfield, its likely that you will face far less active defending because the defending driver kn
Celebrate Good Times (Score:3)
Formula 1 is Deploying New Jargon for 2026
Yay! More jargon! Woohoo!
and (Score:4, Insightful)
It will still be impossible to overtake at Monaco
(Unless it is raining)
Designed by committee (Score:2)
No one was asking for the radical changes being implemented in Formula 1 for 2026 season. Arguably, the current cars (tracing architecture to 2014 season) and regulations have been delivering an excellent on track show, specially starting with 2020 season when the budget caps were finally implemented for the teams. For example in 2025, F1 had three drivers from two teams fighting for the champion title all the way until the end of the final race of the season.
Most of the criticism of the current technology
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F1 and manufactures are just surrendering to the "green" politcs of EU.
Hear, HEAR!
100% that. Europe, the cradle of the car itself, became the car's graveyard the instant they came up with the 2030 BS.
Oh, and the EU pedestrian safety rules are why cars look like Brutalist buildings on wheels now.
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Oh, and the EU pedestrian safety rules are why cars look like Brutalist buildings on wheels now.
Yeah, how dare they try to make cars less dangerous for pedestrians! I should have the freedom to put big daggers on the front of my car! And guns! And burn leaded gasoline while I roll coal! And shed piles of dust from my asbestos brake pads! Etc.
Re:Designed by committee (Score:4, Funny)
Sorry this is just a video game now. (Score:2)
They aren't drivers they are video gamers sitting in a rolling computer chair.
Take all the electronics out including power brakes and power steering. Now it is a true competition between drivers.