Beta F1-Gears

Cita de: GoVal en May 17, 2026, 02:47 PMCarlos Sainz da una vuelta al Madring.


https://x.com/F1/status/2055604175073927344?s=20

En la curva La Monumental, parece que vas a despegar hacia el cielo.

Mucho se habla de posibles destinos para C. Horner, en el caso que vuelva a la F1, ahora suena con fuerza el equipo chino BYD que podría llagar al Gran Circo:

Horner in talks over new BYD F1 team entry

Former Red Bull boss Christian Horner's return to Formula 1 could be as the head of a 12th team entry with Chinese car manufacturer BYD, with talks on a potential tie-up ongoing.

In the wake of his surprise dismissal from Red Bull in the middle of last year, Horner has been evaluating his options to make an F1 comeback, with it clear he feels he has unfinished business in grand prix racing.

Early interest from Aston Martin did not get as far as a deal, while most recently he has been linked with a bid to purchase the 24% stake in Alpine that American investment group Otro Capital is looking to offload.

But while a decision on that is set to be made in the next few weeks - with Horner facing a notable rival bid from Mercedes - another possibility for him has now emerged.

That could be with Chinese car manufacturer BYD, which specialises in electric and hybrid vehicles, and has long been interested in a possible future entry into F1.

It has emerged that during a visit by Horner to the south of France last week, where he also attended the Formula E race in Monaco, he spent time with BYD during a special activation event it held at the Cannes Film Festival.

During that event, it is understood Horner met and spoke with Stella Li, BYD's executive vice president, to discuss thoughts on F1 and scope for a potential partnership. The pair of them also posed for photographs together.

While it is understood that discussions did not get as far as green lighting the F1 project, sources suggest that the negotiations were positive and that there is serious potential to move the plans forward.

The timing of these talks is interesting because Horner is now a free agent to return to work for an F1 team or project, following the expiration of a non-compete clause that was agreed as part of his Red Bull severance package.

BYD has made no secret that it is actively exploring its options in F1, with Li having revealed earlier this year that she discussed ideas with F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali at the Chinese Grand Prix.

Speaking to Italian publication SportMediaset in the wake of those talks, she said: "I like Formula 1 because it's about passion, culture and people dream of being in Formula 1...it's something we're discussing. It's a real opportunity to test our technology."

A tie-up with BYD, which clearly has the funding necessary to invest heavily in F1, would be a perfect solution for Horner, who is understood to have no interest in just returning to F1 as team principal.

He wants to either have a financial stake in a team or be in control of things to the same extent that he was at Red Bull, where he was CEO as well as team boss.

A BYD F1 team would offer Horner the chance to build a project from scratch and shape it in the best way possible, as opposed to buying into a current operation such as Alpine which has other major shareholders and where control would be much more difficult.

While BYD has been linked to Alpine in recent weeks, it would only use an existing F1 team as its way in if 100% ownership was on offer. It is understood that its preference is to set up a project from scratch as a 12th entry.

Getting a start-up onto the grid is something that would take time, with the first hurdle being to get F1 to open up the entry process once again as it had to do for Cadillac.

But FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem has long been clear that he thinks grand prix racing would be boosted by the presence of a Chinese car manufacturer on the grid so would likely be supportive of doing what was necessary to open the door for BYD.

Speaking last year, Ben Sulayem said: "If there is a Chinese [manufacturer interested], and I will speak on behalf of FOM, they will agree to that, because it is about sustaining the business."

"If there is a team from China, let's say, and FOM approved it, and I am 100% they will approve it, wouldn't it make more money with China coming in? I believe, yes."


https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/horner-in-talks-over-new-byd-f1-team-entry/

En esto, estoy con Vasseur. Pide aclaración a la FIA, le responden que ".... se tienen que adaptar los autos a las normas y no las normas a los autos". Siguen al pie de la letra ese mandato.

Observan que un "turbo" de menor tamaño les puede dar una ventaja competitiva en la salida, a costa de perder rendimiento en la banda alta de revoluciones.

La mayoría de los equipos no sigue esa ruta, y cuando ven su "inferioridad", protestan, utilizando el comodín de la "seguridad".

La Federación acepta la queja  y modifica las normas una vez más y la Scuderia que hizo las cosas "por el libro", a tragar y perder su ventaja en las salidas, justamente ganada.

En el caso de la Scuderia, me recuerda a la temporada 2013, después de aquel GP celebrado en Montmeló, en la que vencieron con una estrategia a 4 paradas!!!!

El equipo Red Bull F1, uno de los grandes perjudicados, comenzó a protestar, utilizando a la prensa inglesa, aduciendo que las carreras eran muy difíciles de seguir por su complejidad.

La FIA, en principio, no daba el brazo a torcer, hasta que llegó el GP de Gran Bretaña, en el circuito de Silverstone, una plaza perfecta para asestar el golpe definitivo.

Pista muy exigente para los neumáticos y las recomendaciones del suministrador de neumáticos que se pasan por el forro, con el resultado de varias ruedas sufriendo reventones. En ese momento, ya se podía emplear el comodín de la "seguridad", la FIA, ya no tuvo más remedio que doblar el brazo.

SV, piloto de Red Bull, arrasa. Si todo se hubiera hecho por el libro, creo que FA y KR le podían haber puesto las cosas más difíciles.

The 'unfair' F1 safety net that's trapped Ferrari

Ferrari might still have the best starts in Formula 1, but it is fair to say that team boss Fred Vasseur is annoyed by how its advantage has been eroded by an outcome that he maintains was "unfair".

In fact, in a year where there has been plenty of political manoeuvring among teams over rule changes, including relating to compression ratios and energy management, this is the aspect that stands out to him as the most unsatisfactory.

"The start is by far the biggest," says Vasseur.

The brilliant getaways enjoyed by Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton so far this year have their foundation in a deliberate design choice Ferrari made in opting for a smaller turbo.


Aware of how challenging the race starts could be for the 2026 cars that had lost extra electrical assistance from the MGU-H to spool up the turbo, Ferrari chose to take a hit on sacrificing top end power in favour of better launches.


This was because, having gone to the FIA a year ago to explain the challenges and potential safety risks that were in play with the way the regulations had been framed, it was given a clear message.

It was up to teams to design their cars around the rules; not for the rules to be adjusted to fit around the cars.

Taking that viewpoint on board, Ferrari duly went away and weighed up that the compromise on going for the smaller turbo was worth it – as the downside of a bigger turbo would be very tricky starts.

"The trade-off is do we want to make one tenth of a second [in lap time] or do we want to lose five positions at the start," said Vasseur in an exclusive interview with The Race.

"If you ask the engineers they say, okay, let's have a good start."

It was when rivals found out in pre-season testing just how difficult the starts were going to be – and how big the dangers were of them going catastrophically wrong – pressure was put on the FIA to take action.

This resulted in the new extended pre-light procedure, which gives all drivers more time to spool up their turbos, as well as plenty of extra practice launches.

The changes that arrived for the Australian Grand Prix with the extra blue light time did their job in avoiding the risks of a start line pile-up (although Liam Lawson and Franco Colapinto came very close), and did not stop Ferrari leading into Turn 1.

In fact, Ferrari has maintained its start brilliance until now - although the scale of its advantage has been cut back significantly.

From Vasseur's perspective, there are some fundamentals to the situation that he thinks did not play out in the right way.

"Imagine without the blue light [the new pre-start light which gives drivers time to spool up their turbo before the start sequence], some cars would be still on the grid in China," smiled Vasseur.

"You can put on the table the safety grounds, and it's the right of the FIA and I have just to accept. But at the end, I think it's also a bit unfair on us.

"I went to the FIA one year ago, and we spoke about this. We spoke about this in SAC (Sporting Advisory Committee), we spoke about this in the PUAC (Power Unit Advisory Committee).

"And I really appreciated the answer from the FIA [that] you have to design the car for the regulations, not the regulations for your car. I think this is a very good approach.

"So then to have half of the grid, 40% of the grid complaining, that it's mega dangerous and so on. Politically [it] was well played but not very fair."

What Vasseur is referring to is how key players among the drivers and team bosses ramped up the safety risks to such an extent that the FIA could not ignore taking action.

Grand Prix Drivers' Association (GPDA) director George Russell even went public at the Chinese Grand Prix and suggested that Ferrari was being "selfish" and blocking moves to alter start procedures more.

Vasseur is not the sort of person who likes to spend time engaged in wars of words, so he quickly drew a line under things back in Shanghai in saying that what was done was done.

Asked on reflection if he regretted not speaking out more on the topic and not accepting the changes, Vasseur says that the reality was that Ferrari's hands were tied.

The FIA used its safety card to make the tweaks, so Ferrari could do nothing other than be resigned to it.

"It was a safety ground. I don't have to accept," Vasseur said. "It was a decision based on safety grounds. It's up to them. Even if everybody is against, they can decide."

What makes Vasseur most twitchy about the starts approach is that it is not a topic that relates to a clever interpretation of a loophole – such as what happened with the compression ratio issue surrounding Mercedes.

Instead, this was about a fundamental choice made to adapt rules around behaviours that teams had not taken into account when finalising their designs for 2026.

"It was a bit harsh for us," Vasseur added. "I understand what they did for safety grounds, but the other option would have been to ask them [the other cars] to start from the pitlane if they think it was not safe.

"For us it's also a choice that we made. We developed an engine with a criteria and somehow they changed the rule at the last minute."

https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/the-unfair-f1-safety-net-thats-trapped-ferrari/


 

Cita de: llumia en May 21, 2026, 03:45 AM

Cita de: GoVal en May 17, 2026, 02:47 PMCarlos Sainz da una vuelta al Madring.


https://x.com/F1/status/2055604175073927344?s=20

En la curva La Monumental, parece que vas a despegar hacia el cielo.

A mí me ha recordado a los óvalos de la NASCAR pero en pequeña escala con lo cual lo hace más inclinado pero mola mucho.