Parc Ferme: Welcome Respite?

The cancellation of the planned Gulf region rounds for the 2026 season is hardly surprising given the regional geopolitical crisis.  However, the inconvenience to the FIA and FOM far outweighs the opportunity it presents to address some of the prevailing problems with the 2026 regulations.

Namely, ‘super clipping’, the act of drivers diverting engine power from the wheels to recharge the battery, whilst at full throttle.  

This all happens in the fastest sections of the track (straights and corners), with top speeds in Bahrain dropping as much as 30 km/h. If you want to truly understand that as a differential, stand still at the side of the road in a 30-zone as cars drive past. 

The problems with the 2026 regulations were hardly a surprise. All and sundry had been warning about their impact long before they came into force. However, despite the warnings, the organising bodies decided to wait and see, betting that the entertainment would outweigh the spectacle.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on your persuasion, F1 cannot be about a coin toss. Credibility rests on the teams' and drivers’ ability to shape their own destinies.

The unforced break provides an opportunity to address some of these unforced errors. Various ideas have been mooted. However, there seems to be only one practical, quick solution for super-clipping: increasing the power delivery ratio of the Internal Combustion Engine vs the MGU-K. 

To be fair, not all aspects of the new regulations are a failure. One of the positives seems to be that the cars can run closer through the corners and remain competitive. This is a definite plus, but one that may only last briefly. The teams will be looking for legal ways and means to nullify this situation, much as they did with the previous regs.

One such system may have already been on display: Ferrari’s ‘Macarena’ wing. Until recently, the benefit of this system has eluded Parc Ferme. Having now seen a CFD simulation of what it does to the air behind it when it reaches 180o of rotation, a possible benefit to this maverick system became apparent.

Essentially, at this point in its rotation, it generates a slug of dirty air at a critical moment - under braking, just before turn-in.

No problem for Ferrari, but possibly a loss of aero to the car following? To use the current F1 vernacular, the driver behind gets a ‘Mario Kart banana’. This would close the Ferrari strategy circle. Getting to the front of the pack at the race start: done. Keeping Mercedes behind…? Let’s see if they run it in Suzuka.