Suzuka Preview & Engine Gap

We preview the unique challenge of Suzuka — from sector demands and overtaking chances to teams likely to shine. Then we break down the growing engine performance gap and how power unit differences could shape the weekend and the season to come.  

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Fox now, fox now, fox, fox, fox.

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Um, four point eight, four point eight. I think that's public. I think that's public.

SPEAKER_01 0:28

Welcome to Boxbox Box, your friendly neighborhood Formula One podcast. My name's Scott. I'm joined today with Mohan as always.

SPEAKER_02 0:34

How are you, Mohan? Uh I'm good, thank you. It's actually quite interesting uh having a week's break because of uh the busy couple of weeks leading up to this.

SPEAKER_01 0:43

Um, like I haven't spoken to you in in months.

SPEAKER_02 0:47

We've got quite a lot of activity, but uh we're gonna have a bit of a lulla after the Japan one as well, so depending on what actually happens. So uh good to be talking to you.

SPEAKER_01 0:55

Yeah, we've got a special guest on today. There's a cricket near where I'm recording. And it's it's yeah, you can kind of hear it. So um I'll do my best to mute my uh microphone uh when I'm not speaking. But can you wrap us up? But you know, it's been a week or so off, Mohan. Where are we at? What's been happening?

SPEAKER_02 1:09

Uh I guess the two things was were the results in Melbourne and China. Um, and kind of show it's sort of two teams in particular stood out, I guess, between all of the all of the Paddock and Mercedes and Ferrari out of that were clearly ahead of everyone else. But the more uh interesting factor has been all the remaining teams, I guess, largely having issues coping with these new regulations and the fact that uh a team like McLaren, who dominated last year uh in China, weren't able to put two cars on the on the track, basically. So there's quite a lot of tweaking that has gone on, hopefully, between these two weeks to allow these teams to put a competitive car. But obviously, there has also been a lot of noise in the background, particularly on engines, particularly team movements, and quite surprising team movements that have happened in the in these preceding weeks. Uh it's actually been a a very busy fortnight across the across.

SPEAKER_01 2:05

This cricket is completely kicked off, by the way, but as we started this, so we'll see how it goes.

SPEAKER_02 2:10

It gives it authenticity to our play cross.

SPEAKER_01 2:12

Yeah, yeah, that's right. Yeah. So yeah, look, I think a lot of there's a lot of talk about the whole Mario Kart type thing that's happening at the moment. Uh you know, the most interesting thing for me with these new regs and how the the driving's playing out, I suppose it's uh well look, it's entertaining, but but if you'd asked me which track for me in Formula One is a Mario Kart circuit, I would have said Suzuka. And here we are. So, you know, are you looking forward to this with these these new reg regulations?

SPEAKER_02 2:42

Yeah, actually. And I think the fact that the teams have had a couple extra weeks to try and get themselves sorted is hopefully helpful in that sense. But I guess the the result will tell, and particularly given a team like Red Bull who have dominated on Suzuka in the past and the issues that they are having settling in, particularly Max's form in the in the in the in the Lisa's country, the fact that he had a DNF in the last race, it's kind of turned things on its head a little bit, which is which is great for the sport. But it'd be interesting to see whether the the trends and the form from previous years on this track will carry through.

SPEAKER_01 3:15

If we could just hone in on that for a second, because I know you've mentioned that a few times. For me, when the formula changes, I'd probably throw out that past history. But in your opinion, do you think having that um that that past success is a show of, I suppose, knowledge on the track and how to tweak things to make it work for the track? Is that what the angle you're coming from there?

SPEAKER_02 3:35

Uh I definitely, I mean, and the fact that they they would certainly would have learned a lot from each from those particular tracks that they have dominated on, to be able to hopefully translate to the new the setup in the new car and under the new regulations, to I guess exploit the most out of these regulations on those tracks in that sense. So this is from Max's point of view a very unlike start of the season for him. And I mean the fact that McLaren couldn't put a car on the track is just it. If you'd asked me that at the start of the season, I wouldn't have taken bets on it, basically. But also, you know, a team like Aston Martin, all the issues they've had off the off the track. And aside from the personal changes that have happened there as well, there are so many factors that have come into this set of changes. And obviously, we have followed the sport long enough to see various waves of rig changes that have happened. But this obviously is the biggest that has happened in one go at any time, and it seems to be that a lot of teams are struggling with it.

SPEAKER_01 4:32

Right. Yeah, I get what you're saying. And an analogy for it, I suppose, is that you know, the, you know, last year you ordered food in in Spanish, this year you're ordering, ordering food in French, but end of the day, you're still ordering food and you have that that skill that transfers over. So would that make sense? Yeah. I'm with you. I'm I'm sold, I'm sold. I've been I've queried it in the past, so you've got me. All right, so um, let's jump in. Momentum shift. Uh so after the strategic drama and mixed fortunes we see we saw in China, uh, which teams leave Shanghai with genuine momentum heading into Suzuka and which teams may already be on the back foot?

SPEAKER_02 5:07

Um, so not just China itself, if you look at the first two races, both in Melbourne and China uh collectively, this I guess sort of points to a first checkpoint of momentum in the season as early as it is in the season. Because after these two results, for the first time, we actually saw quite a clear separation between teams that were executing at a potentially championship-winning level, and other teams that are facing very serious early pressure that we've talked about, and particularly teams like McLaren and Aston Martin, and even Red Bull for that matter. The biggest winners for me leaving Shanghai were unquestionably Mercedes, particularly with uh Kimi Antonelli's sensational maiden victory and quite a popular victory at that. And he he showed form all the way through the fact that he converted pole position into a very controlled race and led the dominant Mercedes 1-2 in that race. That result itself is quite hugely significant for several reasons, not only for confirming Antillen Lee's status, even at this stage, as a bit of a front runner, I guess, for the championship, as much as as young as it is. What it also shows that the Mercedes-Benz package is quite consistent across the qualifying pace, across how they manage their tires, and how they execute strategy as well. That that has been shown quite clearly in both these races. Um and and Russell finishing second in China just basically reinforces that this isn't just a isn't just a spike by one driver to win a race. So I think coming into Suzuka, they seem to me uh to be the most complete team uh coming in after those two races. Having said that, Ferrari obviously can take a lot of encouragement out of the out of the resulting China. Both drivers contributed, and Luis's secured his podium, again, a very popular podium. And it also showed what a what a fierce intra-team fight there is between these two drivers. And also the fact that Ferrari have shown that they have actually got some genuine underlying pace in their cars, particularly across longer race teams. There's also, I guess, a psychological advantage from Hamilton's podium, and it and it shows that his confidence with the team, with the car, with the strategy is growing compared to where he finished last season. And while they were able, weren't able to actually quite um uh challenge Mercedes for the one and two position, I don't think the gap is huge, and I don't think it's an insurmountable gap between the two teams. The other thing we also saw out of this was that some of the performance of the midfield teams, and the one that stood out for me was Haas, and particularly Bierman's uh fifth placing, was held him in very good stead basically in the fact that no, he he showed that these midfield teams, perhaps through the change in the regulations and so on, and also some teams settling into it a lot better, that those midfield teams have been brought a lot closer into the field. So um that's sort of some of the observations. And on the flip side of all that, there are teams that actually kind of left China with um a lot of concerns, and Red Bull definitely was one of those. Uh, they were severely compromised by Max's DNF. And um, I guess a non-finish at this early stage does interrupt the team momentum quite a bit and puts a lot of pressure on them going into this race. So that along with McLaren had probably had one of the worst weekends they have had in the last few years. So it's particularly for the team that had there were a lot of expectations placed on them given what their results were last year. That reliability issue is is quite a surprising issue, I guess, for a team like that. So those teams are definitely got a lot of lot of catching up to do coming into Suzuka to actually make up the gap to Mercedes and Ferrari.

SPEAKER_01 8:58

Well, Suzuka is one of the most technical and driver-demanding circuits on the calendar. Looking back at the performances we saw uh on very different layouts in Melbourne and China, which cars do you think appear best suited to Suzuka's high-speed direction changes and flowing sectors?

SPEAKER_02 9:17

From previous experience and sort of observing many races over the years at the Suzuka track, this track probably represents, from an aerodynamic point of view, it probably represents the track that probably tests that particular aspect of a car more significantly. But the results in China and Melbourne, I guess, gave us some early clues as to which cars might thrive on that track. As mentioned before, based on that performance, Mercedes definitely has to be considered the early favorite coming into Suzuka. The car looked very composed through all the medium and high-speed sequences. The aerodynamics were very stable, and the drivers were able to manage their tires very well for the for the duration of the races. Having said that, Ferrari also looked very well suited to this circuit. It was most encouraging, as mentioned before, was that they the behavior of these cars was quite consistent over the longer race distance. Um, and Leclerc's ability to sort of attack the corner entries was observed very clearly. Uh, and Lewis's management, race management overall as well, was another factor that got taken up, could be taken away in that. If they can, if they can extract peak performance out of their cars, I think they are a very good challenger for Mercedes on this track. The big unknown out of all of this is Red Bull. Traditionally, as you mentioned before, this has been a track where they have had some of their strongest results. But the issues coming into this race, uh particularly what they experienced in China, it's it's sort of they are chat, they are chasing a lot of confidence, I guess, and also assurance about the reliability of their cars coming into this race. And it's the kind of track where, as much as they have dominated in the past, it's also a track that can become very uncomfortable very quickly. So it sort of punishes very small weaknesses. And you would hope that these teams have actually got themselves sorted coming into this race. Uh McLaren, uh, I guess for me at this stage is quite hard to read. Um given the the non-start in China. Um it's uh from what I understand, it is fundamentally uh an issue with the power units, and they have played this very close to their chests. They have not, um they've basically been very diplomatic and mentioned that they are trying to resolve these issues with uh Mercedes HPP, and it is nothing to do with the aerodynamic part of it. And you hope that in this time that they have had off, that they have been able to resolve that. And the other part to actually look forward to is whether the midfield teams that produce good results in China can replicate that in at Suzuka as well, particularly uh a team like Haas. So I guess overall, heading into this Grand Prix, the I think the competitive picture feels quite poised in that sense. Um, and it's a matter of who can challenge Mercedes' uh momentum coming into this race.

SPEAKER_01 12:15

All right, so we've just talked cars. Moving over to the drivers, particularly their confidence. Which drivers uh are gonna arrive in Japan full of confidence after China, and who desperately needs a clean weekend to reset their season? Now, with Isaac Haji, maybe you were thinking, or what are your thoughts?

SPEAKER_02 12:33

Uh obviously, given his win, the driver definitely coming into this race with a with a massive psychological boost would be Kimi Antonelli. And particularly in the way he won. It wasn't a fluke, it wasn't because of mistakes of other drivers around him. He got out in front quite early and was able to control the race even after the safety car deployment, even after the pit stops, and the fact that he drove a very mature race coming into it. So I think he's he would take an enormous amount of confidence coming into this race. Alongside him, I think George Russell can also can feel extremely positive. His consistency in general has not just in this race and not but in also previous in previous seasons as well. You know, he's Mr. Consistency. And also one of those drivers that has an amazing skill at managing his tires. So definitely both those drivers from that team would be coming into this race with a lot of confidence. At Ferrari, this story would be a bit more layered, I guess. Lewis's podium is obviously hugely significant, not just in terms of points, but certainly from a psychological point of view. Um, and as mentioned before, it sort of points to the fact that his comfort with this car and his comfort with the team and his comfort with the team strategy is growing. That is what we as fans all love to see and to see a happy Lewis, I guess, overall. And Le Clerc will actually take a lot of confidence from the underlying pace that the car has shown that he was able to show. On the opposite side of that emotional range, I guess, sits Max Verstappen, and he has made his feelings quite clear about the new regulations. And there has been talk around the paddock and whether the media has actually blown this up about whether if he's not able to extract anything out of this, that this might be his last season in F1. And it's come down to that because he's fundamentally unhappy with what spots being done, I guess. But a dominant performance can certainly change his emotions around in that sense. Uh, and it will be we'll wait to see whether, and we if anyone can do it, he can do it, I guess. And to be able to push a substandard car around the track, there's not many drivers can do it as well as he did, as he showed last year. So um the drivers on top of that that are probably most in need of a reset are definitely the McLaren drivers, Norris and Piastri. Um so for particularly for a team that's fighting to stay uh in the in uh in contention for the titles, both the constructors and the drivers, uh, losing an entire race, obviously frustrating would would be the understatement of the year. Um and this Suzuka race would offer them a chance to to rebuild momentum for the for the for the season. Um, but it also is a kind of track that is quite unforgiving if you don't bring a significant amount of confidence into it. In the midfield, BM's strong result would hopefully prove quite transformative, not just for him, but for the team as well. And um a result like someone like Kolopinto as well. And so they actually, these junior drivers punched well above their weight in China. So hopefully they are able to take that confidence and those performances into Suzuka.

SPEAKER_01 15:45

You mentioned the unforgiving nature of Suzuka. So tell me around like tire degradation. Like China threw up interesting tire and set up challenges. Will those same issues carry over to Suzuka, or does the completely different track layout reset this competitive order?

SPEAKER_02 16:01

So the track uh layout aside, I guess ahead of that, one of the most important differences, obviously heading into Suzuka, is that we move away from the sprint format for a brief period back to a traditional race weekend. And this obviously has huge implications in terms of teams having that extra time to set up, to understand the time management, and also in order to adjust to the overall competitiveness. This would help a lot of teams that have been struggling up to this point because it would give them extra time to sort out any issues that they've had. The full set of the full um set of practice sessions, it obviously allows the teams to build performance set by step by step so that for instance the car that's out on the on the track on a Thursday is not necessarily the same car that's out on the track on a Sunday. So I think the teams would enjoy this extra bit of practice coming into it. Overall, I think this would actually, based on what we saw in China in particular, this would favor the teams that are quite methodical in their approach. I think Mercedes are certainly very well positioned to capitalize. It's not just the setup of the car, it's the drivers' abilities to uh to be composed and to extract the most out of their cars would hold them in very good stead. For the teams that struggled in China, uh, this is, I guess, a return returning to a standard weekend. It gives them a chance to fully investigate any issues that happened previously and whether that's was related to reliability uh or performance balance in the car, that's something that they would have had to work out in the in the time leading up to this. So um I think while the sprint weekend may have restarted the competitive picture slightly, the hope is that Suzuka actually offers a more clearer proving ground for how these cars are set up and how that may point to the remainder of the season as well.

SPEAKER_01 17:51

Right. So exactly on that, is it still too early to talk about title momentum? Or could Suzuka be the first race where we start to see a clear championship storyline emerge after these rounds where really Mercedes has just run away with it?

SPEAKER_02 18:07

Uh I think in general, given that we have got well now 22 races and um and we have an unscheduled uh shall we call it a spring break. I guess it's sort of a summer break. I think it's still early to take any um thoughts, I guess, or early guesses on what the how this uh championship is going to unfold. Traditionally, though, having said that, Suzuka has got a long history of sort of being the race where some of the championship pictures starts to sharpen quite early in the season. Um however, uh if you think of what happened last year, you know, the fact that Max was 104 points adrift with uh coming out of the summer break, with a lot fewer races that are left than are left in this season, and was able to close it down to two points by the end of the season. So um anything is possible. Um but um the the the breakthrough win for for Kimi and also Mercedes' performance in general would indicate that there is a title favorite. But given the upgrades that are allowed that are going to be under the new regulations that are going to be allowed, I at some point will see hope to see that gap being closed a lot, to the point that it may not necessarily be one team that is dominating for the rest of the season. And the fact that as drivers settle into these cars, uh settle into how they deploy their the batteries, get used to the tracks and actually exploit the most out of these cars, regardless of whether they're happy or unhappy with the new regulations. I think overall it still is, I think, too early to define uh a championship favourite. It's uh it's it's a sort of a wait and see, I think, for me.

SPEAKER_01 19:49

All right, well, on that, I did ask you off-air specifically about the questions around engine upgrades. Power unit, I should say, formerly known as engine engines. Uh I'm I'm very curious about this, so I wanted to kind of unpack this. Because if there's one team that is going to be able to uh uh stop Mercedes clinching this championship, it's going to be Ferrari. They're they're they're right thereabouts, they just don't seem to have the same straight line speed. So can you tell me, with these new 2026 regulations, I suppose there's a there's a power gap that's been assessed, right? Something like that. And and how is that defined between the manufacturers? And can you just explain how this all works? Because it's it's beyond me at the moment.

SPEAKER_02 20:31

Yes, so it's uh it was actually interesting because uh there's been a lot of conversation definitely about this, particularly in the last couple of weeks, and um, and particularly given how dominant Mercedes have been in these early races, um, as to whether there will be opportunity for these teams to close that gap, I guess. So for this year, uh FI actually define how they define the engine performance gap as such, is sort of using a seasonal monitoring system, which is actually centered on what they call the ICE performance index. So basically, what that is is a measured comparison of the combustion engine output between manufacturers under real race conditions. So rather than judging the performance from a single uh dyno figure, the FI will analyze standardized telemetry and talked sensor data gathered over race weekends, uh, alongside any additional performance information that they have requested from the manufacturers. So these assessments are scheduled at the moment to take place in three windows across the season. And they're roughly after round six, round twelve, and round eighteen. Um at this point, um, Ferrari, based on the results that they get back, will determine whether a particular supplier or manufacturer is considered far enough behind in or in. In quotation marks, um behind the leading engine to be able to afford the trailing team to catch up. And so how this is actually structured is this performance index is um set around a 2% difference or a 4% difference below the benchmark. The benchmark would be the leading team. So for teams that are considered to be at each of these checkpoints, are considered to be 2% behind the leading team, uh they will be given one additional opportunity for upgrade during the season, uh, and one additional upgrade in the following season. Uh, if the deficit is seen to be more than 4% or 4% or more, those allowances actually increase quite significantly. So typically uh this will actually allow, instead of the single additional upgrade, it'll actually allow them two additional upgrades this season and then two more in the following season. So this is quite a shift in consideration by the FIA. The important thing to actually see this is not as a penalty system for the leading supplier. Basically, that, you know, you pick any of the works teams, Mercedes, Ferrari or even Honda for that matter, build the strongest engine, they won't face any sanctions as such. What FIA's overall objective is to try and converge the paddock in a control fashion so that they're giving the newer or struggling manufacturers a structured way to try and close that performance gap. And that's the overall intent with these new opportunities and the performance gap. This framework also seeks alongside the compliance rules and particularly debate around the compression ratios, and Mercedes obviously been at the center of that discussion. And from what I understand, they have already moved to try and close that gap in relation to when they will check the compression ratios and under what temperatures they will come check the compression ratios. And I think this comes into effect from June onwards, where previously they were checked on cold engines for that matter, but now they will be checked on warmer engines because the understanding with particularly someone like Mercedes who's technically running at 18 to 1 as opposed to the required 16 to 1 was that when the engines cooled down, they were all at 16 to 1. So that wasn't an accurate measure of the difference between the teams. So while these, I guess these regulations overall seem to introduce data-driven performance monitoring, it's all designed to pre prevent another prolonged engine dominance cycle while still rewarding technical excellence across the teams, but also to try and bring the performance of all the teams and all the drive all the cars closer together in the paddock.

SPEAKER_01 24:58

Okay. So if you're saying with the compression ratio issue, are they are these teams going to have opportunities to to change those components so that they meet the requirements? Or is that are we unsure? Because surely if if you're Mercedes, you're not you and you don't have the opportunity to upgrade the engines, you're just a sitting duck when this new test comes in.

SPEAKER_02 25:23

Yeah. And I think this is where I think I mentioned before, it's two sides to this. One is obviously seeing the fact that it's not meant to penalize a team like that who have been uh actually clever enough to exploit the regulations for that matter, as much as other teams. Even if you look at the turbo unit that that that Ferrari have installed, I mean, this is very clever on their part to look at the regulations and go, well, we've got something that can fit into these regulations and will give us that extra boost. Let's do it, basically. Uh and I understand Ferrari actually coming into this season had a lot of challenge from FIA. But when they were called in to answer for it, there was really no case to answer. And I believe Mercedes are in the same position. The fact that no, they have been innovative enough and clever enough to work within the regulations, but obviously exploit them to the full extent. What it is is not to penalize them, but to give other teams the chance to catch up to some extent. And so changing the compression ratios is not it's it's almost impossible to do over a over a single season. It's almost something that they have to try and target into 2027 so that uh even the teams that are they would have to come up with other factors within the car to try and make up the difference, not necessarily the compression ratios.

SPEAKER_01 26:38

And is it with when you're talking about the the teams that are uh that that can get the upgrades, uh would there would there ever be a scope for say um I've already answered this in my head. Would there would there ever be a scope for say Haas that's using the Ferrari engine to uh to be to get upgrades, more upgrades than Ferrari itself? Uh that that wouldn't happen though, would it? Because the the power is going to be the same out of the engine.

SPEAKER_02 27:07

It is. And you've also got to think the fact as much as, I mean, look at when Mercedes scans the fact that they're obviously generous enough to share the engines around, uh, they are not going to do that at the expense of affecting their works teams, basically. So any any potentially any upgrade will will come out to the works teams first uh and then be rolled out to their to their partners.

SPEAKER_01 27:28

And the Yeah, okay, all right, cool. We'll circle back a couple of these things, but the I guess what conditions did you say will allow teams to introduce the engine upgrades uh under these new rules?

SPEAKER_02 27:42

Um so um unlike previous hybrid eras, uh eras, um these regulations this year in 2026 introduce a it's a more managed and conditional upgrade framework. So the manufacturers in general won't simply be free to introduce uh performance upgrades whenever they want. Um, so largely the upgrades will be permitted under the defined circumstances we talked about earlier. Uh, but more notably sort of around reliability concerns, any safety issues. And so this is where that power gap mechanism becomes very important. So if a team like Audi or Honda, any of the teams that I guess uh struggling a little bit at the moment, or even further down the down the paddock, for example, if they find themselves significantly behind the likes of Mercedes or Ferrari in sort of real-world metrics, the FI obviously allows targeted upgrades to those teams to try and close that gap. So this, but the thing to note about it, this is not basically a blank check saying go and do whatever you want. They still have to provide quite a robust technical justification with supporting data before FI will actually sign off on that upgrade. So it's it's not a free-for-all in that sense. So there is quite a lot of work that they would have to do. So while the upgrades will still exist, they will still be, I think, very, very tightly governed as such, so that it's not seen as a free-for-all.

SPEAKER_01 29:09

And how often will engine upgrade windows open during a season? I think you mentioned it before. And what triggers them?

SPEAKER_02 29:16

So uh we mentioned before the fact that now it's the opportunities, um, those those windows that after six weeks to sorry, round six, round twelve, and round eighteen. And so depending on where these teams that are further down the paddock, that may actually offer them an opportunity once or twice per season at best to introduce some upgrades as such. For instance, now if you look at um Red Bull as if they're struggling in their first full full independence season, basically they would be permitted to have a targeted improvement. So, but on the flip side of it, you've got a team like Mercedes who historically have been very strong adopters of the whole hybrid concept. And they are not gonna just sit idly by and wait for in that sense. So they obviously all do have permission to do some things on their cars that still keeps them in contention and also keeps them ahead of the pack. But obviously, these they have to still work within those upgrade windows that are set up for everyone else. So what we are seeing, I guess, compared to previous season where there was a process of continuous development, uh, what we are moving to is more like a staged convergence of these teams. So that they're, I guess, FIA's moving towards a more broader cost control philosophy with these teams to try and bring them all on a roughly an even playing field.

SPEAKER_01 30:41

And uh you've already answered this, but with that 2% power gap rule, uh I was gonna ask what happens if a team exceeds that, but do they face penalties or restrictions? But I guess what you're saying is the restriction is that the the that they don't get those windows, the upgrade windows, where the other teams do for the for the power unit.

SPEAKER_02 30:58

Uh that's correct. Yes. So it's it's obviously um it it's not meant to penalize the teams that are in front. Um and and particularly in the fact of it's you know the fact that they should be almost rewarded for the for the innovation that they have brought into the sport and the fact that they are clever enough to do what they do. Um and yeah, this 2% is is the first threshold uh that it sits. Um and obviously that allows a single upgrade uh in this year and next year. Um and the 4% obviously gives you uh that much more opportunity, a couple an extra upgrade overall. Um and this, I guess, hopefully this is taken to be and perceived as being a uh a fair tiered system, um, so that there is so that if there's any deficit between these teams after those windows, it's seen as a moderate deficit. Um so that teams have to do a lot bit more work to try and bring these cars together. Some of this actually, we have to look at this historically because uh when you look at what happened in 2014 to some of our older listeners and viewers that remember the changes that happened there. Following the 2014 uh changes that happened, Mercedes had a very dominant start to that year. And it was very difficult for rival teams to try and recover performance, particularly when those regulations were quite tightly frozen at the time. So, what they obviously had to be very wary of anything that sort of felt, and they obviously are very wary of anything where it's felt like balancing performance from an artificial point of view, I guess. Um so uh this is something they will be watching very closely given given their history with this. But what we hope this brings is an even playing field across the paddock. So basically no punishment for excellence, but a structured safety net to prevent any manufacturers from falling significantly behind the rest of the pack.

SPEAKER_01 32:53

Yeah, 2014, as I understand it, what came out later was that they had their engines actually turned down. They were just that far ahead that they uh just didn't want to embarrass everyone else. It was uh the whole situation was insane. Because they I think they barely dropped a Grand Prix, barely dropped a Grand Prix all season. I think maybe Canada with Danny Rick, and I I can't quite remember what happened to the Mercedes in that race, but I think it was a whole lot of bad luck. So just back to this what defines this power gap, if you could just touch on this quickly. Did you say this this index they're measuring, is it the is it the ICE side of the engine or is it the electric side of the engine or is it both? Or I'm a bit lost there, or is it too ambiguous?

SPEAKER_02 33:31

It's not quite the way it's actually written, it's to do with the ICE part of it, I guess. But given um given the fact that this is a 50-50 split now, so as much as the index actually points to the ICE, they have to factor in the electric part of this of these engines, because that's contributing to the overall performance of the car, and it would contribute to the overall deficit between those teams to see where they sit in the sense. As much as it's called an ICE performance index, I think it's an entire power unit performance index that should be factored in in this case.

SPEAKER_01 34:06

So, how will the balance between the the electrification and fuel power evolve in 2026, do you think? And does that affect the upgrade allowances having that 50-50 now?

SPEAKER_02 34:18

Yeah, so it's um, as we know, it's sort of um as mentioned before, yep, it's a 50-50 split. What this is intended on what the thing we have to keep in mind is this the new regulation and these upgrade allowances are, I guess, seen to be as overall development support, I guess, for each of these manufacturers. So if the the particular power unit supply is measured to be outside the competitive band, uh the FDA doesn't penalize them, it just tries to bring everyone into the into the same playing field. Um if um I guess what this actually does, I guess overall it changes how manufacturers will prioritize the development of their power units. So if you look at as much as Honda struggling now, Ferrari and Honda historically have been manufacturers that have had very strong performance in the efficiency of their combustion engines. Whereas Mercedes have very strong expertise in the hybrid side of things. So because the electrification performance overall can vary quite significantly between suppliers. The reason I guess this is called an IC index, even though the measurement of the performance difference factors both parts of this power unit, push is to factor any development on the ICE part of the engine, if that makes sense, basically. So that's where that performance index comes into it. So they measure it with both combined, but the encouragement is to try and improve the performance of the ICE part of the engine in that sense. So this is where it sort of goes into a bit of a gray area, and that part of it is not clearly defined how that would actually work. I think it's almost a case of regulation on the fly, I guess to some extent, which does happen with the fire from time to time. That they have got a concept in their head which they are looking to roll out. But it may be that some things may not be workable and some things may uh may be effective, that they will have to decide as the season goes on what works best overall.

SPEAKER_01 36:22

So one more thing I suppose uh I want to discuss with you. The I think it's been the complaints have been loud and proud over the qualifying issues with the engine. Uh do you think that the FIA might rework the ratios or whatnot between the the combustion side and the electrical side of the engine just to I guess sort out qualifying so it's more on the limit? Like potentially even make the cars overall slower, just so they have more battery to be deployed and they're not stuck in this lifting coast scenario. Uh I guess the reason I'm asking is because all the chatter I hear about this and the the regulation changes, it's back and forth whether or not the race, the yo-yo race is positive or negative. But it seems to be a a a large consensus of people dislike where qualifying's at. So what do you think? Do you think FIA might make some adjustments or is it just not likely?

SPEAKER_02 37:16

I it's more the the the as much as they may want to do it, uh you've got to think of the practicality of doing that actually, and and how easy or difficult it would be to actually make that. Because you'd need all the team teams involved, right? You'd have to, one, you'd have to get the consensus of all those teams actually. And there are and it's the this the case of you know, Mercedes and Ferrari have almost like nothing to see a kind of thing, you know, we are fine. Uh it's the teams that are struggling that are going to put their hands up and go do something about it, please. You know what I mean? So um it's it's a fact of um getting everyone to agree to those changes. Yeah, I think it's going to be a very hard sell across the plan. Getting getting a unanimous decision across them is going to be hard. But it's also how significant a change that can they actually make in this without be redeveloping things. And I guess this is where this power gap thing is, it's it's kind of a workable compromise, I guess, for teams to try and bring everyone onto an even playing field. And to be really honest, I don't think even FIA knows how this is going to play out. I think this is purely, at the moment, it's entirely a theoretical proposal. And I think with and the fact that there's this, it's good that there are multiple windows in the season to reassess this, that they may have to tweak this on the fly depending on how how it actually rolls out for the remainder of the season.

SPEAKER_01 38:31

Yeah, I did, I did remember, uh I do remember when I last asked you about this, you said something like that. This is just something the drivers will need to get used to in qualifying. And that might be the case, that this just might be the what the new look of qualifying and how we see it and how it works. And very good point, I think you make there as well, is even if Mercedes and Ferrari didn't like how qualifying was, didn't like that it was that on the limit type experience that we're used to for the entire lap, why would they upset the Apple card of what looks like or looks to be a very successful season for them coming up? It's you you'd probably just park that anyway until it was mandated and just see where you go. So uh I completely agree with what you're saying there, Mohan. So uh tell me, is there anything else you want to touch on today, wrapping up on the engine and Suzuka, which is upcoming?

SPEAKER_02 39:18

So I guess just to just to quickly wrap up um the preview of for Suzuka. I guess the the the narrative from the first two races feels very finely poised. Uh, Mercedes arrived uh with a lot of momentum, and Ferrari also with a significant amount of momentum, but at this stage are playing, I believe, a little bit of catch-up to Mercedes. They are, from what I understand, Ferrari are due for, aside from all this power gap issue, from uh aerodynamics upgrade in Miami, I believe, or Montreal, I which need to understand which one of them, which actually may change things quite significantly. And they are, as far as the the chatter that I have seen from the Ferrari Garage, and particularly Fred Basta has actually mentioned the fact that they are that not that far off Mercedes, the way things are, and all it would take is a couple of very fine tweaks uh that would bring them onto a level paying field. And that's something that we all want to see. Four cars trying to win is much better than two cars trying to win, you know what I mean? So I think this um this brings a lot of that excitement into Suzuka. And then the engine rules, as you talked about, I guess uh it's it's on paper. It looks like an interesting proposal and a workable proposal. The actual uh rollout of it will actually tell how effective it is, or whether FI needs to make some other considerations as part of this.

SPEAKER_01 40:39

I always remember Suzuka as being Sebastian Vettel's favorite track, and it's easy to see why. It's brilliant and hard to compare any other circuit to it on the F1 calendar.

SPEAKER_02 40:50

Um and it's uh actually in the in the preceding weeks, obviously, given the uh the cancellation of Bahrain and Saudi, and this track was started as a potential second uh back-to-back race. And there was, from what I understand, there was a lot of support, not just from the drivers and the teams, but from anyone that's for any of the media, any of the commentators, anybody that follows this sport uh for that reason, basically, and it's it's one of the even for me, it's one of my favorite tracks to actually watch racing on. Uh but obviously FI have decided not to at this stage. Having said that, actually, one thing I wanted to mention is in the press release that FI said about cancelling Bahrain and Saudi, there was something in the fine print and all of that, actually, and particularly in relation to Bahrain, and they basically did not come out and say the races are cancelled for the rest of the season. They basically said Bahrain will not proceed in April. That kind of leaves a window for somewhere later in the year that this could actually, if they could find a gap somewhere and things settle down over there, that they could slot this in somewhere. You know what I mean? So they haven't shut that window completely. Uh because I've actually read it through the fine print of the through hang on. This is actually quite an interesting comment. The fact that they've they've left an opening there to come back to this later.

SPEAKER_01 42:03

So make sure you bring the quote for us next time. That's a great find. I'll uh uh we'll leave it on that that cliffhanger. Uh you want to shout out our socials, Mohan?

SPEAKER_02 42:12

Uh yes, so our website is boxboxbox.net.au, which also then takes you to our socials on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and X. Sorry, X and TikTok. Please like, subscribe, comment, and if you wish to email us, you can reach us at info at boxboxbox.net.au. Tell us what we're doing right, tell us what we're doing wrong, disagree with us, and uh please open up a debate. And please share this around as well to anyone that uh finds interesting. We uh it's actually interesting. Some of the feedback I've had today is in relation to particularly some of our spin-off podcasts. We have um Racing Rewind, which we are looking at classic races, and we're looking at the 2003 season at the moment, and the next ones are due to be rolled out soon. We also have our fun decoded series where we try and break down a lot of the technical technical aspects of Formula One racing and hopefully put that into some some form of uh plain speak. But I guess one of the feedbacks we actually had is the fact of particularly talking about the technical aspects. We have to make the point that we are, this is not an introduction to Formula One, that we I guess we do pitch this at a at a certain uh level of coming in. But if you do feel that we need to to pitch start pitching this at a bit more fundamental and basic level, please provide us that feedback because we would love to add in more explanation, more background, more history to this sport. Um if if anyone is, particularly when you talk about uh historical things, uh please please give us that feedback as well.

SPEAKER_01 43:42

Yeah, and we did actually what I told you the other day is quite comical. I did receive an email from some sort of podcast statistic website, which also was very likely a scam, uh said we're the number number one podcast in Oman in sports and 74 overall. So I'm gonna say that's probably uh Not true. But you know, we'll take the win anyway while we can.

SPEAKER_02 44:03

Absolutely. And particularly in that region at the moment, given that the fact that they're going to be starved for Formula One in the next little while, and potentially later this year, that uh any listeners or that be unsubscribers you can get from that area is even greater, basically.

SPEAKER_01 44:16

Yeah, if you're in Oman and you're listening to the podcast, please reach out because uh I just don't believe it's true. Um, all right. Well, thank you again for your time, Mohan. Uh it's always a pleasure. We will see you next time on Boxboxbox same boxbox box channel, same boxbox box time. Thanks again. Thank you, and we'll speak to you on the other side of qualifying uh this weekend. Certainly will. Alright, thank you, Mohan. Take care.

SPEAKER_02 44:41

Thank you too.