Motor Sport
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Love WRC. Massive respect for the sport. It’s cooler than F1 in many ways.
But it’s not very available to me in the US without a WRC subscription.
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@mclaincausey Those are all very good points and definitely reinforce my own thoughts. Regardless of these developments though, I think the 2026 change-up will reset the field and be the biggest factor in how the teams fare. I think i'm most interested to see how the rules work out with the double DRS setup with no zones, along with the battery stores apparently no longer harvesting power, and proprietary fuels. Have these things been clearly defined yet or am I commenting on speculation?
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They’re ditching DRS in favor of a “push to pass” paradigm I think. I like that the cars are getting a bit smaller, though I really want them to be even smaller if that can be done safely. Agreed it should reset the field though afford Aston Martin an advantage, presuming they’ll have Newey.
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@mclaincausey I saw on a recent episode of "Tech Talk" that they showed an FIA concept of the 2026 cars and discussed some of the features. From what I gathered, "DRS flaps" will remain and even be added to the front wing. They'll be open for straight sections and close for corners. The cars will be slightly smaller and have some reduced downforce due to some simplification to the ground effects regs. And the push-to-pass will not have a regenerative function. So i take that once the battery is depleted, the car would be at a significant disadvantage. This would make for some drastically different strategies. I wonder with the proprietary fuels how much dev is going to go from aero into fuel development, because it seems to me they'd get more bang for the buck from fuels than aero to a degree. Of course any team with Newey wouldn't be hurting in that department.
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@WhiskeySandwich yeah—I like the term active aero more for it. It can reduce drag, sure, but it can also angle to enhance cornering, and not just rear grip. It’s quite different from what DRS was. The push to pass / manual override thing seems more in the spirit of DRS functionally since it in confluence with low drag aero would be used for overtakes, which was the purpose of DRS.
I’m wondering about what happens when there is wing damage. Could be quite unsafe.
Also wondering if the 50/50 ICE/electric PU balance is wise but I guess we will see.
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@mclaincausey guess it doesn’t matter much what name they slap on it (like Sam Collins calling it the return of “barge boards”), I just want to see it in action.
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@WhiskeySandwich the weather and that red flag have made this a very entertaining quali. Hope the Grand Prix is just as fun.
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Checo is gone. Sainz to Red Bull and a possibility of Max to Merc.
Chuffed about quali and the McLaren 1-2.
Bring it home Lando, and P2 please Oscar! Let’s get a race going!
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I’m with yall. I think it’ll be a good show. Prob right, I’m thinking Lando, Oscar, max…
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Race of the year! …but also the worst way you could have a McLaren 1-2 and a first GP win. Pit in the correct order instead of tainting Piastri’s first win by having Norris have to give up a 6s lead.
Robbed Piastri of a chance to have a clean win and Norris the chance to fight for a win, and in a race where Piastri wins his first GP, Lewis and Max fight and collide, and McLaren finally locks down 1-2, the story is Norris giving the win to Piastri. This pit wall has just been a mess.
MCL still learning how to be out in front but at least they finally got that 1-2.
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@mclaincausey if it’s a 1-2 the order in which they cross the line won’t impact constructors, or am I missing something?
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Team orders makes sense to me only when the faster car needs to pass the slower car safely. Or when it can be used to build a points gap for a championship opportunity (as if Piastri and Lando's roles were reversed in this example). I think McLaren demonstrated exactly how NOT to execute. That's not how you want to win your first GP. I agree with Lando: "Tell him to catch up then."
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@Tago-Mago in this scenario it didn’t matter for WCC, though if Norris loses WDC by 6 or fewer points this race will be pointed to for that.
I’m just saying generally speaking, given the implications of WCC and other factors like keeping your #1 happy if there’s a big delta between your drivers’ skill relative to one another, team orders are sometimes necessary, if not for the WCC in this particular instance.
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Been away a couple days. But, holy cow. What a Grand Prix! Only McLaren could have a P1 and P2 and still somehow sour the moment. Oscar drove a brilliant race, though. Also, all the radio chatter from McLaren and Red Bull was way more entertaining than it should have been. The second half of this season is gonna kick off.
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@alexxedge agreed on all points. Epic silly season already started alongside an excellent racing season. Second half should be lots of fun.
Wild theory: some part of Max’s insistence on late sim nights that isn’t driven by addiction to racing is driven by a desire to compete in WEC. I’d rather see him jump to that than to another F1 team
