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Originally posted by .38supersig:
...And the winner of the 2026 Chinese Grand Prix is: Kimi Raikkonen!

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Originally posted by 220-9er:
The news going around now is that Adrian Newey will go back to his engineering role and Jonathan Wheatley will come onboard as Team Principal from Audi.
It's beginning to look like Mr. Stroll knows how to buy quality individuals but hasn't figured out how to run a team (including having his under-performing son in one of the cars).

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Leaving Audi high and dry? Does not speak well of the supposed highly respected Wheately, no? The season continues to be a flustercuck for us the fans.

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Stroll Sr. must be offering a substantial incentive since Wheatley also moved from the UK to Switzerland to take this position.

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FIA cuts energy recovery limit for F1 Japanese GP qualifying after late change

Ronald Vording Mar 25, 2026 at 10:28 PM

During Formula 1 qualifying at the iconic Suzuka Circuit, drivers will now only be allowed to harvest eight megajoules of energy, whereas that limit had initially been set at nine megajoules. The FIA has cut the rate of harvesting in an attempt to reduce the amount of super clipping at a track that, like Melbourne, is described as ‘harvesting poor’ in the paddock.

In Albert Park, that led to painful onboard footage heading into Turns 9 and 10, even on George Russell’s pole lap. Drivers were super clipping well ahead of the braking zone, a state in which they can recharge energy while remaining flat out. This made the speed profiles unnatural and took away part of the challenge for drivers. Even in Shanghai, Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri, among others, said they were effectively being penalised the more risks they tried to take.

In a meeting after the Chinese Grand Prix, the consensus among F1 teams was that the races themselves are entertaining and do not require a ‘knee-jerk reaction’, but that qualifying is an area that could be improved. Qualifying, after all, should remain a challenge for drivers, meaning lift-and-coast and super clipping over a flying lap should be reduced.

The initial outcome of the meeting was that nothing would change for Japan and that qualifying would only be revisited ahead of the Miami Grand Prix. However, the FIA has now gone back on that position with a statement issued on Thursday – the media day in Suzuka.

“Following discussions between the FIA, F1 teams and power unit manufacturers, a minor adjustment to the energy management parameters for qualifying at the Japanese GP has been agreed with the unanimous support of all power unit manufacturers,” the governing body said.

“To ensure that the intended balance between energy deployment and driver performance is maintained, the maximum permitted energy recharge for qualifying this weekend has been reduced from 9.0 MJ to 8.0 MJ. This adjustment reflects feedback from drivers and teams, who have emphasised the importance of maintaining qualifying as a performance challenge.”

Normally, the FIA is required to inform teams four weeks in advance of such a change, but this situation is different. Following the post-China discussions, the FIA’s technical department looked at the simulations for Suzuka one more time. Those showed that teams would have to rely more on super clipping than initially expected, making an earlier intervention desirable.

Teams and power unit manufacturers were informed on Tuesday about the FIA’s idea to reduce the energy recharge during qualifying in Suzuka, with the governing body stressing that it would only implement such a change if all teams and manufacturers agreed.

Nothing changes for the race on Sunday, with the FIA once again stressing that it considers the overall product to be in a relatively good place for now.

“The FIA notes that the first events under the 2026 regulations have been operationally successful, and this targeted refinement is part of the normal process of optimisation as the new regulatory framework is further validated in real-world conditions.

“The FIA, together with F1 teams and power unit manufacturers, continues to embrace evolutions to energy management, with further discussions scheduled in the coming weeks.”

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The change means drivers will harvest less energy to charge the battery on the straights in Qualifying, which in turn means they will spend less time on part throttle and perform less lifting and coasting.

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Originally posted by P250UA5:
I saw that as well. From the F1 site's article:

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The change means drivers will harvest less energy to charge the battery on the straights in Qualifying, which in turn means they will spend less time on part throttle and perform less lifting and coasting.

My brain reads that as the opposite. With less recharge ability, wouldn't you lift earlier to get more charge into the battery?