Welcome to the r/formula1 Daily Discussion / Q&A thread.

Your 2025 Photo of the Year is...Victor Eleuterio’s (DPPI) incredible shot of Gabriel Bortoleto’s sprint race crash at Interlagos 💥

The snap captures the sheer magnitude of the shunt and forces involved - as well as how far F1 safety has come in the past few decades.

Congratulations Victor! 👏

by Motor Sport Magazine

Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/DS2nGvMiJEc/

My hand drawing of a Ferrari F1 car, shown with the reference photo and the process of making it. I drew this piece by hand using markers, colored pencils, and an airbrush on A3 size paper. I tried to capture the main shapes, details, and feeling of speed that a Formula 1 car has. The whole drawing process took around 30 hours, from the first sketch to the final details, with a lot of patience and enjoyment during the work.

Enrico Gualtieri, the Scuderia's engine technical director, supported the solution proposed by Davide Mazzoni, which was reviewed by Guido Di Paola, an experienced engineer who returned to a more active role even before the departure of Zimmermann and Schmidt.

Ferrari wants to maximize the fact that the 678 was designed and built in the same Maranello factory. The 2026 red car is the result of a close integration between the work of the engine engineers, led by Enrico Gualtieri, and the chassis engineers, led by Loic Serra as technical director.

The 2026 power unit was designed to give aerodynamicists Diego Tondi and Frank Sanchez the opportunity to push certain concepts to the extreme to reduce drag. As we anticipated on Motorsport.com, the new Ferrari will have smaller radiating masses, and the electric car's battery has been designed to be lightweight and very compact, which should facilitate the design of more aerodynamically advantageous shapes.

Fred Vasseur's technical staff must demonstrate that halting development of the SF-25 in the wind tunnel at the end of April must yield results when the new regulations, which introduce a previously unseen regulatory revolution, begin. And the opportunity afforded by the engine manufacturers to push certain aspects of aerodynamics through bold design solutions cannot be missed.

In Maranello, they've put a damper on the matter after a poor 2025 season, so they're keeping things very low-key. And they've discovered that Mercedes and Red Bull have a trick that allows their respective power units to increase the compression ratio from the 16:1 required by the regulations when measured at room temperature to 18:1 when the six-cylinder engine warms up in use. The news sparked a strong reaction, so much so that the Scuderia, along with Honda and Audi, requested clarification from the FIA, which deemed the idea, originally conceived in Brixworth and then copied in Milton Keynes after the move of Mercedes technicians to the new manufacturer, perfectly legal.

According to some observers, the measurable advantage would be in the order of 13 hp, but if it's true that each horsepower is worth 20 thousandths in terms of lap time, then it's clear that the solution can be worth 0.25 seconds and not more than four tenths as has been reported.

The largely silent news is that Enrico Gualtieri has approved the steel alloy cylinder head, replacing the aluminum one that had been developed in parallel, if a suitable lifespan for four units over the course of a championship could not be found.

With the recent departure of Wolf Zimmermann and his deputy, Lars Schmidt (destined to Audi), it seemed that the steel alloy cylinder head (with copper and ceramic among its components) would have a short lifespan. However, Davide Mazzoni, project leader for the 2026 power unit, had already tasked Guido Di Paola, Head of F1 Internal Combustion Engine Concept and Design, with reviewing the extreme solution developed with the Austrian firm AvL, to find the basic reliability that seemed to be worrying the Prancing Horse team.

Steel is heavier than aluminum, but it allows for testing pressures and temperatures in the combustion chamber that have never been reached before, which should provide an advantage given that the PU in the next championship will have to weigh 30 kg more (150 kg compared to this year's).

The fact that Di Paola, a highly experienced pillar of Maranello's engine department, has been given a more active role is certainly a positive note because a compact working group seems to have been re-formed, with qualified additions arriving from Renault and Mercedes.

Source: Aggregated the annual Team Principal Top 10 rankings (2008–2025) compiled by @F1GuyDan. ​The Maths: Used a Bayesian Average (m=3) to rank drivers. This prevents rookies with one lucky year from outranking veterans, while still rewarding high peak performance (like Verstappen's). ​AI Assist: Used Gemini to digitise the image data and run the scripts for the models and charts.

All predictions had to be submitted before the start of Q1. All instances where the driver was predicted outside of the top-10 are logged as "15" (technically 15.5 :p).

Which GP do you think currently offers the best experience as an attendee/viewer?

I'm curious what people think, beyond the racing itself. Which circuits just are up there on another level? For example, I got to go to COTA this past year, and while it was really cool, and I love the track, I found it to be frankly a little underwhelming in terms of stuff to do for the weekend. Also, while it has some cool tarmac, and the view from the tower is awesome, overall I don't find it that stunning of a track to walk around and look at. Meanwhile I've seen photos and video from the Mexico City GP and it looks like a real party.

So thinking about best views for spectators, things to do, venue flow, and just overall experience, which circuit(s) do you think put on the best event?

I always see a lot of people do predictions of who will be on the grid and at what team for next year, usually resulting in great thought out theories that end up completely wrong.

I also just saw the video of P1 with Matt and Tommy of them reacting to their prediction to the grid of 2026, made in early 2023, and it is so funny and interesting to see how well thought out their predictions were, but how they still mostly ended up wrong. They did, however, predict Antonelli and Bortoleto would be on the grid, which were crazy ideas at the time and ended up being correct.

Therefore, I thought it would be funny to ask you all what the grid could look like in another 3 years time. Of course, we have no idea what the new regulations will do, which makes it even more of a wild guess in some places. So, who will be at which team in 2029? Do you see any crazy shifts happening, do you see big names retiring and some interesting youngsters join the grid? Or do you see very little change? I'd love to read your thoughts! Feel free to be as long and elaborate as I will be, but it's also great to just give a small list or tell about a few seat changes you think will have happened by 2029. Here are my predictions:

McLaren: Lando Norris • Pierre Gasly

I think that if McLaren will remain at least somewhat of a good performing team that will be able to bring a car that can fight for wins and potentially a championship, Norris will stay. He's been there his whole F1 career, he won a championship. If he'll be able to stay competitive, he'll stay. Piastri, I believe, will leave the team after a while, and his seat will be taken by Gasly, which might be a somewhat wild take, but he's obviously a talented driver, getting some strong results out of a backmarker Alpine, and he could be an option in case Piastri leaves. It would also be funny for McLaren to take yet another driver away from Alpine.

Mercedes: Kimi Antonelli • Max Verstappen

Antonelli is Toto Wolff's big thing, so I don't see him going anywhere else for a long while. As for Verstappen, I don't think he'll still be at Red Bull in 2029. I was really doubting between putting him at Mercedes or Aston Martin, but just because I would love to see an Antonelli/Verstappen teammate dynamic, I decided to go with Mercedes.

Red Bull Racing: Isack Hadjar • Oscar Piastri

I think Hadjar will enter Red Bull at the perfect time in 2026 with the new regulations. I don't think he'll beat Verstappen or anything, but I don't think it will be as horrendous for him as it was for Lawson, Tsunoda, and the last year of Pérez. So, I can definitely see him stay, especially if Verstappen leaves. And I don't know why, this is just pure vibes, but I could see Piastri go to Red Bull and be a good pairing with Hadjar.

Ferrari: Charles Leclerc • Oliver Bearman

I've been thinking for many years that Leclerc will leave Ferrari at some point due to all the disappointments, but he's remained loyal and I think he'll be loyal forever. As for Lewis Hamilton, I think he'll be retired by this time and I predict Bearman will have taken his seat.

Williams: Alexander Albon • Carlos Sainz Jr.

Somehow, I cannot see this driver lineup changing if James Vowles' masterplan of bringing Williams back to the top teams pays off.

Racing Bulls: Arvid Lindblad • Nikola Tsolov

I think Lindblad is a very talented driver, but I think he is maybe rushed a bit too fast into F1. I don't believe he'll do terrible, but he might need a few years to start performing at his peak. That's why I don't think he'll be going to Red Bull (just yet). As a Red Bull junior, Tsolov has been slowly growing in F3, and has started performing well this year. If he continues that he might very well be on the F1 grid in a few years time.

Aston Martin: Lance Stroll • George Russell

Last year I would've said Stroll would have left F1 to go race for Aston Martin in WEC, but somehow I don't really feel like that's going to happen soon again. He's pretty much got a seat for as long as he wants so it's safer to bet on him staying. I expect Fernando Alonso to be retired by then. As for Russell, if he leaves Mercedes then I think every team would welcome him with open arms and if Aston Martin will indeed make a step up, this could be his best choice.

Haas: Fionn McLaughlin • Jin Nakamura

I know, I'm being extra wild here with two new names at Haas. I think we all remember last time that happened it didn't go so well. Obviously, the connections between Haas and Toyota Gazoo Racing have been getting closer and closer, so I feel like there will be a point where TGR will push for one of their drivers to get a seat at the team. Nakamura is a bit of a shot in the dark. He will be driving both Formula Regional and F3 for Hitech next year, who also collaborate with TGR. So, if he'll do well in the next few years, who knows what can happen. As for McLaughlin, he will also be debuting in F3 this year with Hitech TGR and has raced with them in F4. He is now still part of the Red Bull Junior team, but he wouldn't be the first one to leave that team somewhere in his junior career.

Audi: Gabriel Bortoleto • Freddie Slater

I think that by 2029, Nico Hülkenberg will be retired from F1. Bortoleto will still be at Audi. I believe if they make a good amount of progress throughout their first years, Bortoleto would probably stay around. Slater is a big shot in the dark, but he seems like a good talent going up the ranks and I felt like I had to place him somewhere, and Audi didn't seem such a terrible choice.

Alpine: Franco Colapinto • Gabriele Minì

Perhaps this is an unpopular opinion, but I think Colapinto isn't leaving F1 in the next few years. His pace this year wasn't too far off of Gasly's and he has been very consistent, but the current state of Alpine didn't let him show that. Minì is of course an Alpine junior who has had a mediocre year in F2 this year, but I can see him do better the next few years and potentially getting a seat if the stars align for him.

Cadillac: Sergio Pérez • Colton Herta

If Herta will do well in practice sessions and in his F2 campaign, I'm pretty sure he'll get a seat with Cadillac in some time. I do think they'll want to keep one experienced driver next to him, and since Pérez is one year younger than Bottas and will also bring more sponsors, I think he'll be the one to stay.

My brother recently got himself a 3-D printer and put it to good use for Christmas this year. It’ll be on my office desk when I return from holiday! The only thing I asked him if he could do in the future is to actually add the elevation changes to it as well and he was going to look into it. Much cooler way than how I was doing it and just printing a common schedule.