F1 Accused Of Trying To Hiding Embarrassing Issue With Its New Cars
Fans believe F1 is trying to hide one of the biggest shortcomings of the series’ new regulations.
Formula 1’s new regulations have really divided the room so far this season.
On one hand, teams that have benefited from them think they’re great, while teams that are struggling — and a lot of fans — can’t stand them.
Now, we might have the most damning evidence that F1 knows how embarrassing some of the new rules are.
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The biggest sticking point of these regulations has to do with the new engines and how they rely more heavily on electrical energy. F1 has used V6 turbo-hybrid power units for years, but these new ones require a 50/50 split between the internal combustion engine and the electrical system.
This means that teams are having to lift and coast at the end of straights more than they used to, or the power unit itself will start “superclipping,” which means it starts slowing down in an effort to harvest energy.
There’s nothing super about it…
It can even happen at full throttle, and it’s starting to impact some of the most iconic corners the sport has to offer.
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On Saturday, Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli locked up his second straight pole, and Formula 1 did what it normally does and posted the in-car footage of Antonelli’s pole lap.
But here’s the thing: the video cut from the in-car cam to two external cameras at some very conspicuous parts of the track, where cars were known to be losing a lot of speed because of superclipping.
One of the places the onboard cut out was at 130R, one of the fastest, most iconic corners that the Suzuka Circuit has to offer. It also cut out going into the final chicane, another part of the track where cars were harvesting energy.
This led to tons of fan criticism, and even a community note, until F1 released a statement claiming that the cuts were the result of technical difficulties with Antonelli’s cameras.
Whatever the case may be with the cameras, there is a significant problem that is impacting F1 this season, especially in qualifying.
In fact, a bit of telemetry data showed that at around 130R, Alpine’s Franco Colapinto lost 98 KPH (around 61 MPH) despite having his accelerator pinned.
Colapinto and Alpine are running Mercedes PUs this season, and while they can be run differently from team to team, it stands to reason that Antonelli dealt with something similar at 130R.
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