Jon 🛞

bsky.app/profile/jon....

I actually agree with a lot of this, but my question is whether the 2026 formula is *directionally* wrong, or whether it's moving in the right direction relative to the Downforce Olympics things were going in before.

That's what I do

I agree, and if they do, I think that's everything we need to declare it a good formula

I think we’ve seen enough to definitively state that the problems visible in race 1 can be dialed in within the confines of the formula.

You know, I think I agree with you aesthetically about the remote car management thing, but that’s hardly new to the 2026 formula, and anyway I can see arguments for it as well, and I don’t think it’s ruined anything

What is the technical failure?

You think that Formula 1 management has convinced the FIA to convince Formula 1 teams to run power unit software that allows someone else to slow them down?

In what way is it not fully under the control of the drivers? I assume you’re talking about running out of energy and slowing down. Better not run out of energy, then. And how is conserving it different from conserving momentum through a corner?

How long do you think it will take for engineers to maximize this formula?

Do you think it has? I don’t think so

Yes

Can you quantify or otherwise concretize the statement that indirect control is “increasing”? If the engine’s crank timing is adjusted, is that indirect control? As for “going fast,” does that mean Alain Prost was a “bad” grand prix driver? Or not one at all? Because he optimized resources?

The car doesn’t drive itself. Computers manage complexity for the driver so that it can be translated back and forth to human inputs. Like every single human-operated machine ever. Like the definition of “machine.”

I don’t understand how those are not driver skills

Okay, so moral reasons

Is this enough red

Yes. I don’t think they should be expected to LIKE it, though, but I also don’t think fans should be expected to care about their feelings if the racing is good. Generally, I find driver pleasure and fan pleasure to be inversely correlated.

What are “hybrid skills”?

Can you cleanly define “controlled by machines” (assume you mean “computers”) in a way that does not exclude all Formula 1 cars back to the 1980s?

I mean it’s MOSTLY red

Even if I am to grant you that Formula 1 racing (which you refer to as “motor racing,” implying that only motorsports defined this way count) is defined by being flat out all the time, are you sure that these rules PREVENT this, or only that race 1 of iteration 1 required compromise in one section?

What if you use too much energy executing the move, and your opponent is able to take the position back?

Why?

Do you dislike them for technical reasons, or for aesthetic/moral reasons?

Sure: “This formula is worse for [specific, concrete sporting objectives] because of [specific, concrete technical limitations] that would be addressed by [specific, concrete alternative technical solutions].”

So, aesthetic objections

It also means they have headroom for power adjustments, though. Seems like a very sane choice

That’s true, but the inverse is certainly not true

Yes, I expect to see a rule change to allow for electrical energy deployment on the start sooner rather than later