2026 F1 car rendering

F1 “in a much better place” after agreeing to increase 2026 cars’ downforce – Krack

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In the round-up: Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack has backed the recently-agreed changes to Formula 1’s 2026 regulations.

In brief

Krack praises 2026 F1 rules changes

F1’s planned rules for 2026 originally envisaged a drastic reduction in aerodynamic performance. However teams agreed earlier this month to relax some of the restrictions, and Krack said he is pleased with the change.

“There are areas where we still have some work to do but, all in all, I think we will find a sensible compromise,” he told Nailing the Apex. “I say compromise because a set of regulations is always a compromise. We have decided to go that way with the power unit and then some of the some of the other points are consequential.

“We have very ambitious weight targets, we have ambitious aerodynamic targets but at the end of the day we have discussed where can you be free, where you need more freedom and all that. And step-by-step, again by being collaborative, by doing some studies together – the FIA has asked the teams to do some studies [of] which are the areas where we can improve the car or where we have to increase the freedom and where we have to stay restrictive – and they took it on board. Credit to them, they took it on board.

“And I think we are in a much better place than we were in June. Which shows despite all the ambitious deadlines that we had I think we will manage to create a set of rules. Sure, not everybody would be happy with everything, but I think it would be an acceptable compromise.”

Foster handed IndyCar seat

Indy Nxt champion Louis Foster will make his IndyCar debut for Rahal Letterman Lanigan next year after agreeing a full-time, multi-year deal with the team. Foster won his second title in the last three years this season, having also taken the 2022 Indy Pro 2000 championship.

Drugovich gets FP1 run

Aston Martin reserve driver Felipe Drugovich will make his first appearance in an AMR24 in the opening practice session for the Mexican Grand Prix in two weeks’ time. It will be the fourth time he has driven for the team in a first practice session.

Tsolov leads rain-hit test

Nikola Tsolov led the second day of Formula 3 testing in Jerez. The Campos driver set the quickest time in the morning with a 1’29.758, before rain hit. Brando Badoer and Jesse Carrasquedo had a spin each, causing two red flag interruptions.

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Michael Schumacher, Rubens Barrichello, Ferrari, Suzuka 2004
Michael Schumacher romped to victory at Suzuka 20 years ago today
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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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23 comments on “F1 “in a much better place” after agreeing to increase 2026 cars’ downforce – Krack”

  1. DOGS ARE SUPPOSED TO EAT MEAT

    Humans too, for that matter. Just not anywhere near as much as most of us do.

    The vet always asks me what I feed my dog, because she is in such good condition and has such clean (albeit worn) teeth at 10 years old. We feed her dry dog food (made from kangaroo), and dog bones from the butcher. (Also carrots for a “treat” but they seem to come out largely the same way they went in).

    I suspect Roscoe’s “meat” diet was awful (but with fancy labels) canned dog food… which is so, so bad for them. I haven’t read the article (and I won’t) so he may have touched on that.

    1. Oh shoosh. Keep your ‘oppinion’ to yourself. My dog likes rice more than meat

      1. Yes, but dogs being descended from wolves, require a diet rich in fish, meat and eggs for peak health. It is a myth though that wolves and other canine need some 100% purely meat diet. It ignores the fact of what the animals they eat/ate eat or the fact they are known to supplement their diet with non-meat items.

        The ultra high meat based kibble brands = a marketing exercise. However, they have helped curb pet food brands from using excessive amount of grain in their food, which is obviously to save money. However, the smart companies are now getting around that by instead using insect protein as filler to keep costs down.

        I know your comment was meant to be tongue in cheek though.

        1. Apparently you weren’t being tongue in cheek based on your comments below. The entire point of a comments section is to share opinions. If you’re too fragile to deal with that, maybe then you shouldn’t read them. It’s also a highly oblivious thing to say when all you’re doing right now is sharing your opinion.

    2. @justrhysism Dogs are omnivores. They don’t need to eat a diet of predominantly meat, and I’m sure Lewis has done his research (likely paid someone to do it for him), and is ensuring Roscoe gets all the nutrition he needs. Humans of course, are also omnivores and many people, even athletes, have switched to vegetarian or vegan diets. As long as you are well informed and well prepared, then dogs and humans are perfectly capable of having a healthy, vegan diet.

    3. “I haven’t read the articles, and I have no basis for my belief, but I’m going to slam Lewis for how he treats his dog”

      There. Fixed that for you. Also, Roscoe is older than your dog.

    4. Nature isn’t black and white. And nobody is supposed to do anything. The only thing that mattes if the body is able to digest it. And that can change too. For example, the human adaptation to be able to drink milk as an adult is fairly recent one. Nutrition wise, studies have shown that vegan meals provide enough nutrition for dogs.

      There have been a couple of (small sample) studies that looked at the different between essential amino acid uptake between vegans and non vegans and it turns out that vegans had well above the minimal amount. Non vegans had more.

      And not to mention that every single human body is different and reacts different to ingredients. And there are different ways to create the same proteins.

    5. Not even herbivores have “meat fee” diets, some eat meat if avalable.

  2. Jeez with the vegans…

    1. String as an Ox, oxes eat vegan, Gorillas eat vegan. People are allowed to choose to be vegan. If you have to complain about it, that means you are close minded and hateful.

      1. Complaining is hateful? And Fer no.65 wasn’t even complaining! And comparing humans to Ox’s and Gorillas is borderline. Eat whatever you want, nobody is stopping you.

        1. It’s a shame how much the militant vegans hurt their own cause. By being so hostile and judgmental, they produce a backlash which causes many to dig their heels in and many to even make excessive meat eating a lifestyle in counterpoint to militant vegans. The same type of folks produced the utterly destructive movement that has seen the rise of people like DT.

          I am not vegan or vegetarian, but I try to minimize meat intake and only eat meat that was sourced ethically (I.E., that animals lived in healthy environments rather than living hells) for obvious reasons. Most people like animals and don’t want to ruin the environment. Tactfully engaging people through these vectors would yield a lot more progress than the “meat is murder!” approach. Somewhat amusingly, a lot of dim witted men actively avoiding reducing their meat intake cause they think they’ll somehow be grouped in with the comically anti-masculine types many picture when thinking of vegan activist.

          1. Reducing meat and dairy is the easiest way that every person can substantially reduce their contribution to the climate emergency. And that emergency is looking desparately bad, so everyone should make a significant effort.

          2. By being so hostile and judgmental, they produce a backlash which causes many to dig their heels in and many to even make excessive meat eating a lifestyle in counterpoint to militant vegans. The same type of folks produced the utterly destructive movement that has seen the rise of people like DT.

            Right. So there’s only one valid school of thought on anything, and any such deviation from is hostile and judgemental, and leads to Donald Trump.

            /s

      2. I want everyone to do whatever they feel like doing, and not just food.

        But forcing a dog to be vegan makes is ridiculous in my book. Dogs needs to eat plenty of things, not just meat, and not just veggies.

  3. With this recently altered aero performance increase, FIA still hasn’t explained how it might impact minimum car+driver weight, if at all.

    Billy Monger’s road accident is weird based on how it happened.

  4. Biskit Boy (@sean-p-newmanlive-co-uk)
    10th October 2024, 8:05

    I’m rather sad they didn’t retain the low downforce concept for 2026. The cars speed now is 98% car and 2% driver. That needs to change.

  5. F1’s planned rules for 2026 originally envisaged a drastic reduction in aerodynamic performance. However teams agreed earlier this month to relax some of the restrictions

    You have got to be kidding. More downforce is the worst direction they can take.
    F1 personnel/management keep saying they are motorsport fans, but the.y keep doing the opposite of what’s actually good for motorsport.

  6. F1 cars have open wheels and already the worst accidents happen when they run into each other wheel on wheel, and one car is catapulted into the air. The problem with high downforce is that as soon as the nose gets lifted, for any reason, there is a loss of downforce and the car becomes an aeroplane. Major safety changes over the years include the introduction of the plank as a way of enforcing a higher ride height, requiring flat floors, and banning skirts around the floor, all as ways of reducing the down force on the car. If the focus is going back to downforce, I hope the safety aspect has been properly considered, and not just dismissed with the flawed argument that “cars are much safer these days”.

    1. That’s interesting, I had always assumed that the increase in downforce was also connected to making cars more planted to the ground and therefore safer, less likely wobble and slide around corners but I had never considered the aeroplane effect.

      I think that the driving unpredictability of less downforce orientated series makes the racing more varied and fun but had accepted that predictable cars save drivers lives at the end of the day. So is more downforce actually more dangerous? I mean, taking it to the dream world extreme, wouldn’t a wingless modern f1 car be amazing, even if a bit slower around corners?

      1. Biskit Boy (@sean-p-newmanlive-co-uk)
        11th October 2024, 9:01

        More downforce means the cars go faster around the corners and brake much later. Correspondingly any accident is likely to be bigger.

  7. If Lewis is careful about how he feeds Roscoe, I think it should be fine. If the science doesn’t see the issue with it then neither will I

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9860667/

  8. I heard Roscoe was a big connoisseur of Italian cuisine…one a the major factors for Lewis signing with Ferrari.

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