Beta F1-Gears

W17: Da la impresión que el fondo plano incorpora una rendija (slot) en la zona con el recuadro amarillo 

La R26 [la versión de estudio y la real] (Audi F1) bajo la lupa de N. Carpentiers:



Audi a dévoilé sa livrée 2026 à Berlin, mais les images projetées en coulisses ont révélé une version sensiblement différente de celle exposée sur scène.

Lors du lancement de sa livrée 2026 à Berlin, Audi F1 a présenté sur scène une monoplace de démonstration standard, construite par Memento Exclusives. Cette showcar, identifiable par son numéro générique R26, correspond au modèle F1 2026 utilisé habituellement pour les présentations officielles.

Mais des observateurs attentifs ont remarqué qu'une autre version de la voiture est brièvement apparue à l'écran derrière la scène, avant la révélation officielle, comme on peut le voir sur la comparaison ci-dessous.

Cette monoplace se distinguait notamment par l'utilisation des véritables numéros de course, ainsi que par plusieurs différences visibles par rapport à la maquette.



Des éléments déjà vus à Barcelone
Contrairement à la voiture de présentation, équipée d'une suspension avant à tirants (pullrod), la version projetée à l'écran utilisait une suspension à poussoirs (pushrod), déjà observée sur la R26 lors de son roulage à Barcelone (flèches jaunes).

Les pontons diffèrent également, avec un dessin plus élaboré intégrant une sorte de visière, comme sur la configuration vue en piste (flèches vertes). Le nez présente lui aussi une géométrie distincte : plus plat que celui du show car, il comporte des ouvertures de refroidissement typiques d'une monoplace réellement exploitée (flèches cyan).

Sur ces images, l'Audi F1 ressemble à la voiture qui a roulé à Barcelone, et qui devrait logiquement être reprise lors du première séance d'essais hivernaux, qui se tiendra la semaine prochaine à huis-clos.



Audi F1 suit la tendance en matière de suspensions
La R26 présente une architecture à poussoirs à l'avant (les différences entre une suspension à poussoirs et une suspension à tirants sont expliquées ici), une configuration qui est plus appropriée dans le cadre du règlement 2026.

Cette architecture pourrait s'accorder plus efficacement avec le nouveau régime d'écoulement généré par l'aileron avant, ainsi qu'avec la façon dont ce flux interagit ensuite avec les flancs et le fond plat. En parallèle, les systèmes à pushrod peuvent s'avérer plus légers et plus simples à intégrer, alors que la réduction de masse figure parmi les axes de travail majeurs des équipes en vue de la saison 2026.

Comme on le voit sur la comparaison ci-dessus, la Haas VF-26 et la Racing Bulls VCARB03 ont opté pour cette solution, à la différence de Cadillac, la seule équipe à ce jour à avoir préféré une suspension avant à tirants.



Une carrosserie très prudente...
Dans cette version initiale qui roulera à Barcelone, l'Audi F1 affiche des flancs plutôt dodus. La découpe sous les entrées d'air (resserrement que l'on appelle l'undercut dans le paddock) est beaucoup moins marquée que sur la Racing Bulls et la Cadillac. On aperçoit même une sorte de protubérance dans cette zone, qui évoque la Ferrari F1-75 de 2022 (flèches vertes).

Quant à la pente des pontons, elle est très peu marquée, alors que la Racing Bulls et la Cadillac présentent des pontons plongeant vers les roues arrière (comparez les lignes vertes).

Ces amples volumes s'expliquent par la volonté de laisser s'écouler beaucoup d'air à l'intérieur de la voiture, afin de ne prendre aucun risque en matière de refroidissement lors des premiers roulages à Barcelone, qui serviront essentiellement à faire tourner les nouveaux groupes propulseurs. Un capot moteur et des flancs resserrés devraient apparaître lors des tests de Bahreïn, qui seront davantage consacrés aux châssis.

Ces volumes généreux s'expliquent par la volonté de laisser circuler une grande quantité d'air à l'intérieur de la voiture, afin de ne prendre aucun risque en matière de refroidissement lors des premiers roulages à Barcelone, principalement destinés à faire fonctionner les nouveaux groupes propulseurs. Un capot moteur et des flancs plus resserrés devraient en revanche faire leur apparition lors des essais de Bahreïn, davantage axés sur le travail châssis.

"Vous imaginez bien que, pour être les premiers en piste, nous avons pris très tôt des décisions sur le niveau aérodynamique et la configuration de la voiture, explique Jonathan Weathley, le team principal de l'équipe. C'est cette version qui sera utilisée pour ces tests de fiabilité et de systèmes. Puis, au moment opportun, nous introduirons notre évolution destinée à la course avant Melbourne, lors de l'une des journées d'essais à Bahreïn."

Audi F1 en quête de fiabilité
La fiabilité constitue un enjeu central pour Audi, comme l'a souligné Mattia Binotto. Le dirigeant a précisé qu'Audi sera prête à rouler dès lundi matin en Catalogne, dans le cadre d'un programme de cinq jours durant lequel chaque équipe peut effectuer trois journées de piste, à répartir librement.

"L'objectif est d'abord de franchir l'arrivée, car la fiabilité, à ce stade du développement, est primordiale. Boucler la distance de course, terminer un week-end de Grand Prix sans problème majeur en piste."

"Pour développer la voiture et le moteur, il faut du temps de roulage. Nous voulons être fiable et, dans une certaine mesure, compétitifs, en nous battant pour quelques positions, quelle que soit la place finale en Australie. L'essentiel ne sera pas notre point de départ, mais plutôt la manière dont l'équipe progressera."

En termes aérodynamiques, il semble que la souffleri de Hinwill soit enfin bien corrélée à la réalité, comme l'explqiue James Key, en poste depuis septembre 2023 :

"Au fond, c'était une question de physique des écoulements, et de ce qui fonctionne ou ne fonctionne pas. À mon arrivée, l'un de nos points faibles était ce que j'appelle la 'robustesse aéro' : la capacité à livrer quelque chose qui marche réellement. Nous n'avions pas suffisamment de critères pour produire une aéro qui fonctionne."

Par son statut de débutant, Audi ne sera pas immédiatement le seigneur des anneaux, mais le porteur des anneaux. Tel Frodo, il devra apprendre et surmonter les obstacles.

https://f1i.autojournal.fr/magazine/magazine-technique/laudi-r26-a-la-loupe/

Hoy se produjo un encuentro entre personal de la FIA y técnicos expertos, donde acordaron ingeniar un procedimiento para medir la relación de compresión "en caliente", pero a la hora de poner una fecha para implementar esa medida,.... si eso ya tal.....

https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/what-has-been-agreed-f1-2026-engine-meeting-compression-ratio/

https://www.the-race.com/content/images/size/w1000/2026/01/2026-Shakedown---3-1.JPG

El equipo Mercedes F1, ha realizado una sesión de grabación promocional ('filming day') donde la W17 ha rodado en Silverstone 200 km, el máximo permitido.

GA desmenuza la W17 (la mostrada en las fotos de estudio y la real):



The 2026 Formula 1 season represents a big opportunity for Mercedes to recover from its relatively disastrous ground effect era, one in which it never really got on top of the situation and where inconsistency was its dominant trait. Being untouchable at one event then fighting to get into Q3 at the next one is not a good place to be; it just ebbs away your confidence.

When you have that problem it's not necessarily down to poor car design, but more about the tools you have available for design concept and development direction. Whatever tools you have are there to help make these big decisions and if they don't give the correct answers then it is very easy to head off in the wrong direction. It takes big balls for someone to use gut feel to overrule any data-driven decisions.

So, will the problem continue in 2026? If Mercedes hasn't recognised where it was coming from - which is either the windtunnel and/or the simulation tools, or the way the team combines the data from those two - and rectified it, then yes it will.

However, as this set of regulations is less critically dependent on what is happening between the ground and the undersurface of the car, the problem shouldn't be quite as bad.

Turning to the new car for 2026, again I'll say at the beginning we can only comment on what we are given. The initial renders released in the morning did look fairly detailed to me but then a few real pictures from the shakedown run showed how renders can differ from the real car. Not necessarily intentionally, but the renders aren't released the instant they're created, and development goes on endlessly until the actual car hits the track.

As an overall package it looks good; nothing startling anywhere but good, clean lines with everything looking like it is working as one.

As I have said before, sometimes it is better to optimise what you have experience of and Mercedes has stuck with the pushrod operated front suspension. That's no bad thing as I don't believe there is much to choose between a pullrod or pushrod, so packaging is the prime consideration in that area.



n the renders you couldn't see much of the suspension wishbone geometry. But from this on-track shot we can see Mercedes has retained the anti-dive on the top wishbone (forward leg dark blue highlight, rearward leg light blue highlights) the pushrod (red highlight) and what I think is the front track rod (green highlight).



Aerodynamically, the Mercedes begins with a three-element front wing, which is now detached from the nose structure. Over the last few years this was an area which teams including Mercedes played around with. I have always liked it being detached as it allows some airflow through that gap to help keep the airflow attached to the underside of the nose.

The shakedown pictures reveal a little more of the aero here. We can see the high radiator inlet (yellow highlight below) making way for the sidepod undercut, giving the airflow wake coming off the front wing and front suspension somewhere to go. Even though it's a long way away, this undercut improves the performance of the front wing.



The underfloor leading edge splitters (red ellipse above) are much smaller than last year. That is because of the reduced underfloor ground effect, meaning that the leading edge of the floor is lower. They will still be more or less working in the same way by turning some of that airflow outwards, but just less effective.

And now I wonder what Mercedes would say that little vertical fin (blue ellipse above) on the outer foot of the front wing endplates is there for? The major objective of these new regulations was to reduce outwash, which plays havoc with a following or potentially overtaking car. I would hate to think this component was there to generate outwash and, more importantly, that at this early stage of running the FIA doesn't have the courage to outlaw this style of airflow management devices.

The front wing endplates are fairly brutal. This is a regulation requirement and that is questionable to me: why do they need such a dramatic footplate and why so wide?

Simply chop them at the inside of the outer tunnel and they will cause a lot less potential yellow flags from car damage.



The radiator intakes are in line with the current trends, being high and allowing a decent sidepod leading edge undercut, and again we have the now reduced-in-size splitters on the leading edge of the underfloor.



We are now seeing the return of the bargeboards of the pre-ground-effect era. Hopefully they will never get to the multi-element components we saw in 2021, but it all starts here.

his area is all about picking up the disturbed airflow coming off the back of the front tyre and also using that redirected airflow to help seal the sides of the underfloor. They even require their own support stay.



Going further rearward it's all quite compact - by no means the 'size zero' sidepods we saw at the beginning of 2022, but all nicely packaged without the need for lumps and bumps all over the place.

The headrest area and the undercut to the lower surface of the airbox intake is the important part of this section of the car. If you can get consistent airflow through this area it reduces driver buffeting and improves the performance of the rear wing.

Mercedes also has the 'sponsorship fin' (which I'm not a fan of) on the trailing edge of the engine cover. It has the car number on it, which is great, and it would be good to see this as a regulation requirement.



In the renders, the sidepod upper surface appeared to sweep downwards and then back up again. The track shot comparison above shows that doesn't really happen.

I have added some flow lines to this sidepod detail below to show what Mercedes is trying to achieve.



All that flow will meet up in what is called the coke bottle area - basically the gap between the inner body surface and the inside of the rear tyre.

The outer flow (red highlight) will be pulled through these louvres by what is called the inner tyre squirt. This is the airflow that is displaced when the tyre rotates onto the track surface; it either goes inwards or outwards. Pulling it inwards can then fill up the void where the tyre rotates away from the the track surface, so effectively managing the tyre airflow displacement as efficiently as possible.



This plan view shows a neat and tidy coke bottle concept exposing the upper surface of the underfloor and creating space for the airflow displaced by the rear tyres that I'd demonstrated above. That airflow then helps improve the performance of the rear wing and diffuser but also improves the efficiency of the overall car by in effect reducing the car's width. If the airflow had to go around the outside it would increase drag.



The area in front of the rear tyre has again gone back to the thinking of pre-ground-effect days. It's important to manage the airflow that is being displaced by the rear tyre rotating onto the track surface and where that displacement goes. If it's inboard it will affect the performance of the diffuser, so the intention is to feed what is called the outer tyre squirt with the airflow coming over the top of the floor through these small louvres.

There's lots more developments to come in that area I'm pretty sure.

I'm a little surprised by the rear suspension. Last year, Mercedes increased the anti-lift on the rear suspension for Imola in May but it caused some problems with driver feedback. Basically, it made the car feel numb.



If what I am seeing is correct, Mercedes seems to have retained it and/or even increased it. The top wishbone (forward leg dark blue, rearward leg light blue highlights) shows a fairly dramatic difference in height where it mounts to the inner structure. The lower wishbone (forward leg dark green, rearward leg light green highlights) shows again a marked difference in the height of the inboard mountings.

Both of these add together to give the anti-lift characteristics to the rear suspension. If what I am seeing is correct, the pushrod (red highlight), the driveshaft shroud (magenta highlight), and probably the trackrod (yellow highlight) make up the rest of the suspension system.

Having said all that, the characteristics from braking on the rear suspension for this season will be quite different to last year. As we now have more electrical energy recovery to achieve solely through the rear axle, under deceleration and especially braking there will be more horizontal load going through the axle into the wishbone system and less torsional load transmitted through the wishbones.

That difference will have quite an effect on how the rear ride height changes under deceleration and braking.

The rear suspension is also (as last year) pushrod operated. With the reduced maximum wheelbase from 3600mm to 3400mm, the area that you can use for the inboard mechanism of a pullrod suspension has been reduced so packaging would be very difficult - not impossible, but at the rear there is a reasonable amount of space on top of the gearbox and it's instantly accessible for set-up changes.

If this is the car we see in testing and Mercedes has recognised and rectified what held it back in the ground effect era then I'm pretty sure we will see Mercedes taking a step forward this year.

Will it be back to the domination seen before 2022? Rumour has it that the new Mercedes power unit is a rocketship and with McLaren, Williams and Alpine using it too, that's eight drivers who are all very competent that could take big points.

The Mercedes works drivers, George Russell and Kimi Antonelli, will certainly hope that the chassis is the step they need to be ahead of the rest of that bunch. As for the rest, that's really out of their control.

https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mercedes-f1-2026-car-w17-gary-anderson-verdict/

En la siguiente foto, subida por ScarbsTech, se observa la ranura/slot presente en el fondo plano de la ´W17. Estas dos corrientes de flujo de aire, energetizan los laterales del difusor evitando la separación de flujo de la capa límite, pudiendo aumentar el AoA y aumentar el "poderío" del mismo o para un mismo AoA reducir el "arrasre"/'drag':



https://x.com/ScarbsTech/status/2014408865614303653/photo/1

Comparativa VCARB-03 vs. W17:



https://pbs.twimg.com/media/G_TJzVlWMAA6Hy-?format=jpg&name=small

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/G_SP_JNWcAAr0hC?format=jpg&name=large

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/G_SP_JVWMAA_JDV?format=jpg&name=medium



https://pbs.twimg.com/media/G_SP_JOX0AAIlY3?format=jpg&name=large

https://i.postimg.cc/G2TXVYVR/2.jpg



https://i.postimg.cc/6q3pBWVG/15.jpg



https://i.postimg.cc/T3rfM587/7.jpg

El equipo Williams F1, se perderá esta primera tanda de entrenamientos de pretemporada:

https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/williams-f1-2026-barcelona-test-fw48/

C. Horner, interesado en la compra del equipo Alpine F1:

https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/horner-in-talks-over-alpine-buy-in-briatore/

Especulando sobre las causas de la ausencia del equipo Williams F1 en estos primeros tests:

https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/williams-missing-first-f1-2026-test-setback-what-we-know/

GA, sobre la SF-26:

Gary Anderson's take on Ferrari's basic 2026 F1 launch car



And then there was Ferrari! We have heard so much through the Italian tifosi during the winter that it sort of feels like we have seen the team's 2026 Formula 1 design already, but here is the real thing. It's a mixture of renders and the actual car that did Ferrari's first few shakedown laps at Fiarano.

The team has already stated this first version of the 2026 car - which Ferrari calls its 'spec A' - is to allow it to build up data and reliability mileage, giving it time for more research and development, so this is not the final Australian Grand Prix race version of the car.

But anyway let's see if Lewis Hamilton's memos to Ferrari about what it needed to do to improve have been taken on board.



Compared to the Red Bull renders and referencing it to the front face of the headrest and the central section of the halo (red arrows) the wheelbase and its positioning doesn't look much different.

This is all down to the scaling, but again as the rear wing overhang is the same and front wing overhang very similar, I don't think we are seeing a significant difference.

Below is a comparison of the Ferrari and the Mercedes during their respective shakedowns, so both actual cars. Ferrari has stuck with a simple rollover bar inlet (green ellipse) whereas Mercedes has gone for the multipurpose inlet (engine air intake and cooling) that I think all others team bar Ferrari will also adopt. Doing this allows Mercedes to reduce the radiator sidepod inlets.



Also the underside of the nose detail is quite different. The main underside height (yellow highlight above) is very similar on both cars but the side undercut detail (magenta highlight) looks much more extreme on the Mercedes.

In reality this will increase the airflow to the underfloor and if that's what you desire to generate more downforce then Ferrari will need to think again.



As was widely predicted, Ferrari has gone to a pushrod front suspension (red highlight above), which seems to be de rigueur for 2026.

To be honest, the difference between the two options is very small so I'm pretty sure it's down to what you feel most comfortable with as a design package.

As for the geometry, Ferrari has retained the anti-dive seen in 2025 on the top wishbone (forward leg dark blue, rearward leg light blue) and perhaps even increased it.

The lower wishbone forward leg (green highlight) runs more or less parallel with what I believe is the track rod (yellow highlight).

The radiator inlet (yellow highlight) is very similar to the Mercedes version, but again we need to remember that Ferrari will have less cooling flow through the airbox intake (green ellipse).

 Time will tell who has enough cooling for those hot, 35C ambient temperature races.



Turning to this picture from the shakedown (as opposed to the realised renders) it shows what I believe to be an increase in anti-dive on the top wishbone, (highlighted with dark blue forward leg, light blue rear leg). In my book this is a lot. The rear leg of the lower wishbone (light green highlight) shows it again runs fairly parallel to the track rod (yellow highlight) so there is not much influence on the dive characteristics under braking from that suspension member.



As for the rear suspension, again Ferrari has retained the pushrod (red highlight) operated system as last year. The anti-lift characteristics also look very similar to last season, if not (as with the front) slightly increased, see the top wishbone (forward leg dark blue, rearward leg light blue). As for the lower wishbone (forward leg dark green, rearward leg light green) it will also contribute to the overall anti-lift characteristics.

As I said in the Mercedes analysis, the braking loads on the rear suspension are very different this year - more electrical recharge is required, which generates a rearward horizontal load at axle height and coupled to that is the actual hydraulic braking load which produces a torque in the wishbone system.

It is to the combination of this horizontal load and this torque that these suspension pickup point positions have to react, so I'm pretty sure every team will have simulated the rear suspension characteristics many times before making rash decisions.






Now onto the bargeboard area. Again, with each car we are seeing reasonably different solutions to more or less the same problem - that problem is generated from the turbulence (red arrows) created as the void behind the front tyre tries to get back to some sort of normal pressure.

If this is allowed to go into the underfloor then you lose a bunch of downforce from the underfloor. These bargeboards, which I have added some highlight lines to, tidy up that flow and then allow it to be pulled around the car by the low pressure in the coke bottle area.

This flow all starts at that sidepod leading edge undercut.



As that flow goes rearward some of it tries to go under the outer edge of the floor. Again, if that happens you will lose underfloor downforce so these small louvers try to connect what is called the tyre squirt - the airflow that is displaced when the tyre rotates onto the track surface - which is fairly high energy so pulls some of that flow into it.

Some teams seem to try to connect the flow on the top of the floor to the tyre squirt going inside the tyre. In Ferrari's case it looks like it is trying to connect it to the tyre squirt going around the outside of the tyre.

I'm sure we will see many developments in this area so time will tell who is correct.



Overall I'm glad Ferrari itself said this was simply a test and reliability version of the car that was being released first. I'm not seeing that much that makes me wide eyed. That said, it's neat and tidy so perhaps a decent base to start from - but developments will count and Ferrari will ultimately be judged on the success (or not) of those.

https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/gary-andersons-take-on-ferraris-basic-2026-f1-launch-car/