Szafnauer not expecting 2026 power unit rules to change

12 comments on “Szafnauer not expecting 2026 power unit rules to change”

1. 

   EffWunFan (@cairnsfella)
   15th July 2023, 8:07

   But I got to admit seeing Mick sitting in the car and wearing his old man’s helmet gave me a lump on my throat.

   You shoul really get that looked at.
   1. 

      Urvaksh (@thedoctor03)
      15th July 2023, 23:31

      And me, my eyes. Reading comments like these.
2. 

   Jere (@jerejj)
   15th July 2023, 8:57

   I’d be okay with shifting the ICE-electric power ratio more towards ICE, perhaps 60-40 or 70-30%.

   Unfortunate for FOS but wholly understandable & justified under such circumstances.

   I like how AlphaTauri welcomed him back into their factory.
3. 

   MichaelN
   15th July 2023, 10:35

   Good take from Szafnauer! This in addition to Mercedes’ statements earlier on.

   More and more it seems the only “problem” Red Bull are seeing is that the only “Frankenstein” engine is their own, which may still turn out quite well, but will have to combine the knowledge they gained from Honda, their own additions, and Ford’s experience with EVs. It’s a tricky proposition.

   They also haven’t made any of their data public to give a better idea of the supposed/alleged “problem” and as a “fix” they propose an arbitrary change in ICE/EV output that’s conveniently rounded up to the nearest 10% point. Doesn’t seem all that credible, especially considering their record on being straight forward and honest has, let’s say room for improvement.

   Also, for the first time in over a decade F1 finally does something to push the engines forward and all that’s being talked about is that it’s too hard, it’s too difficult, it can’t be done, we don’t want it, and more such complaining.

   That’s the pinnacle of motorsport at the cutting edge of technology for you!
   1. 

      Mayrton
      15th July 2023, 11:14

      To me this is a debate on the type of teams you allow to compete. There are some, I am one of them, that would like to see just chassis builders race. They then get an engine deal from whomever. Bringing in teams within the competition that are engine manufacturers and then let them distribute these engines to customer teams in my opinion sets the latter category too much on the back foot. If you do go this way and allow engine manufacturers to participate, I find it a (sub optimal, but still some kind of) solution to tune down the influence the engine has on the overall package.
      1. 

         MichaelN
         15th July 2023, 15:49

         It’s a fair point, and there are definitely downsides to having engine or I guess PU manufacturers have their own teams. Especially because it gives them a lot of political power over their client teams.

         Between all of Horner’s complaining, it shouldn’t be forgotten that the engines regulations for 2026 are very prescriptive. It’s very likely that they’re all going to be rather similar. So in that sense the engines are already reduced in importance, because they don’t offer many opportunities to outperform the competition. The little room there is seems motivated by an attempt to stimulate research into some more generally relevant technology, which is a good thing in a way (although that doesn’t necessarily mean F1 is the best way to go about it).
4. 

   Zann (@zann)
   15th July 2023, 11:47

   By 2026 piston engines are going to just look out of date. Everything is going electric. Climate and burning fuel will be bigger and bigger issues, I mean look at Spain right now. By 2026 it won’t just be Greta, it’ll even be F1 fans! So burning fuel in piston engines, just to make a noise, will look fake and out of touch. And e-fuel, spare me. They get what, 1/6 of the input energy out. Formula E does sound awful of course, they have to make a noise we want to hear, but they can do that, just like a rock band uses electricity to make noise we want to hear.
   1. 

      S
      15th July 2023, 14:41

      Everything is going electric.

      No. Some things are going electric – and only in certain places/markets. Not everything will be electric – ever, probably – and certainly not within the next century.

      And e-fuel, spare me. They get what, 1/6 of the input energy out.

      Who cares?
      The energy that goes in is not a finite resource and it results in a storage medium that is far more energy-dense (and safer) than any battery can possibly be in the foreseeable future – and without the negatives of what batteries are actually made of and how they are produced.
      The current focus on efficiency comes from the fact that the current fuels are inherently ‘bad’, and so using as little of them as possible is seen as a positive. As the fuel becomes significantly cleaner, efficiency becomes proportionally less important.

      Unless you’re trying to squeeze that energy into a battery with a relatively (and prohibitively) low energy density, of course – in which case, efficiency becomes important again.

      Formula E does sound awful of course, they have to make a noise we want to hear, but they can do that, just like a rock band uses electricity to make noise we want to hear.

      You are proposing that the racing cars of the future will all feature speakers and synthetic engine noises?
      Well, that does sound a bright future, for sure…
   2. 

      MichaelN
      15th July 2023, 16:13

      Efficiency is always an issue. A great benefit of synthetic fuels is that you can manufacture these in places where you can get the best efficiency in terms of renewable electric energy since the transportation part – which is notoriously inefficient – is irrelevant; the energy is stored in the fuel.

      There are great use cases for BEVs, especially in cities, but “everything” is not going electric. At least not based on current technology, and looking further than just cars, especially not unless some unprecedented gains are made to make storing energy much lighter and less bulky.

      And there are still serious problems with how the energy used to charge a BEV’s batteries is generated. If everyone could hook their BEV up to a Norwegian hydroelectric plant, or a Chilean wind farm… great. If you have to work with solar panels and light breezes in Hungary, or the very much non-renewable power grid of the USA (estimated at 12%), then efficiency rating a BEV has in the car starts tanking quite quickly when you take that into consideration. And even more so if you also take the manufacturing into account.

      There’s never been just one source of energy, and there doesn’t need to be one in the future either.
      1. 

         Coventry Climax
         17th July 2023, 10:42

         There’s never been just one source of energy,

         Wrong. Think again.
         1. 

            S
            17th July 2023, 13:52

            What?
            I’d love to see an explanation of that.
5. 

   Coventry Climax
   15th July 2023, 13:39

   Szafnauer not expecting Piastri to change teams.

   And look how that ended.

   We won’t know until we know.

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