Formulation 1 is taking a break from racing throughout April due to the cancellations of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix however there may be nonetheless a lot to speak about.
BBC F1 correspondent Andrew Benson has been answering your newest questions…
Commercial
Andrew talked about in his Japanese GP race report that half of Aston Martin’s time deficit is right down to the chassis and due to this fact not simply the Honda engine. Please might he elaborate on precisely what he has realized as a result of this has not been extensively reported and I feel deserves to be heard, because it doesn’t appear truthful to burden all the blame on to Honda – Kevin
The really talked about that greater than half Aston Martin’s deficit to the entrance was attributable to the chassis.
That data got here from a really senior and educated determine over the course of the Japanese Grand Prix weekend.
It additionally tallies with what different groups are seeing on the GPS information to which all have entry, by way of the automobiles’ pace on totally different components of the monitor.
Commercial
The precise break up by way of the losses that may be attributed to automobile and engine at Aston Martin-Honda shouldn’t be identified, and it is most likely not potential to know, as in fact the behaviour of the engine may have an effect on the cornering efficiency of the automobile.
It is value including that, whereas it is true that a lot of the general public focus has been on the Honda engine, and particularly the extreme vibrations which were inflicting reliability issues, crew principal Adrian Newey has been clear that the automobile can also be missing.
It is also the case that it isn’t clear the place the vibrations are coming from – are they intrinsic to the engine, or is there one thing about the best way the engine is mounted to the chassis that exacerbates them?
In Australia, Newey mentioned that on the chassis aspect “we’re perhaps the fifth greatest crew, so type of potential Q3 qualifiers on the chassis aspect, however with the potential to be up entrance sooner or later within the season”.
Commercial
On common over the 4 qualifying periods of the primary three races, together with for the dash in China, the Aston Martin is 3.6 seconds off the tempo.
The fifth quickest crew on common are Alpine, at 1.268secs off the tempo, adopted by Haas at 1.567secs.
So Aston Martin are about 2.3secs off qualifying within the prime 10, with the bulk right down to the chassis and the remainder the engine.
In different phrases, put a Mercedes engine within the automobile, and it might be about the place Alpine or Haas are. Precisely as Newey instructed.
Given the Aston Martin’s troubled start – successfully beginning once more when Newey arrived in March final yr, a delayed entry into the wind tunnel till April, and a consequent compressed growth programme – that sounds solely possible.
Commercial
The automobile is obese, and is very poor in high-speed corners.
The basic level, although, is that it does not actually matter the place precisely the deficit lies between automobile and engine. Each Aston Martin and Honda are a great distance from being aggressive, each know that is the case, and each have a variety of work to do.
Permitting drivers a ‘free’ cease throughout a security automobile interval simply appears to carry an pointless ingredient of luck to races. It definitely made a huge effect at Suzuka. Why not simply change the principles and stop stops? – Alan
There have been a wide range of guidelines governing the security automobile because it was launched into F1 30-odd years in the past and the present ones have been arrived at organically.
Commercial
It is true that a component of luck can enter into the equation, however the identical would inevitably be true regardless of the guidelines have been.
And in the mean time, whereas drivers who’re on the incorrect finish of a security automobile intervention inevitably bemoan their luck on the time, I’ve not heard anybody recommend the principles ought to be modified to stop it.
As for the particular incident in query, it’s debatable whether or not the security automobile in Japan modified the end result of the race.
It definitely appeared prefer it did, because it gave Kimi Antonelli an opportunity to have a cease underneath the security automobile when Oscar Piastri and George Russell, who have been main the primary a part of the race, had pitted underneath green-flag circumstances.
Commercial
Nevertheless, Mercedes imagine that the security automobile successfully made no distinction, that Antonelli would have received anyway.
They primarily based that on the truth that as soon as Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari had pitted and Antonelli was in clear air, the Italian was lapping sooner than Piastri and Russell.
Their plan was to go away him out so long as potential on his medium tyres to allow him to make up the misplaced time.
Bear in mind, too, that Russell was nonetheless caught behind Piastri.
It is inconceivable to be definitive, as a result of there was just one lap after Russell stopped earlier than the security automobile was known as.
However assuming Antonelli’s tyres had stayed in adequate situation for his tempo to proceed for a number of extra laps, he would have ‘over-cut’ each Piastri and Russell and returned to the monitor from his pit cease within the lead.
Commercial
Through the race in Japan we heard that the McLaren pit wall had misplaced energy they usually needed to transfer to the storage. What profit is there of getting the pit wall vs storage – is it an area factor? – Alice
Groups have their senior administration on the pit wall for historic causes as a lot as something.
Earlier than digital timing, it was a necessity for timing functions to be on the pit wall, because it gave the most effective view of the monitor, and it was one of the best ways to time laps and lap chart the race by hand.
It continues at this time out of conference as a lot as the rest.
No crew must have their senior administration on the pit wall through the race. There isn’t a profit to it – all the info that’s accessible to them there may be additionally accessible within the storage.
Commercial
And, with the odd exception, they have an inclination to speak by radio after they’re on the pit wall, even when they’re sitting subsequent to one another.
Having mentioned that, if a crew are arrange that means, then clearly it’s a disruption to have the pit wall gantry go down.
A lot has been mentioned in regards to the new laws affecting racing, so how a lot slower have lap occasions been throughout qualifying and races up to now? – Chris
In Australia, pole place this yr was 3.422 seconds slower than than final yr. In China, it was 1.423secs and in Japan 1.793secs.
Within the races, the quickest laps this yr in Australia and China have been really faster than final yr – by 0.076secs and 0.179secs.
Commercial
That was not the case in Japan, the place final yr the quickest lap was 1.467secs sooner than this.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri with Mercedes’ George Russell behind him through the Japanese Grand Prix [Getty Images]
How a lot do the power-unit suppliers share with their prospects in contrast with the works crew? Does the deal embrace software program, ancillary elements, working procedures and so forth? Do they get updates on the identical time and are they aware about growth data? – Freddie
The principles dictate that power-unit producers should provide to their prospects engines of precisely the identical specification as these utilized by the works crew.
That features every thing that the engine must function to its most capability.
The idea {that a} crew must have a works engine relationship to win the championship was based on the truth that if a chassis crew has enter into an engine design from the start, then the best way the automobile and engine function collectively might be optimised.
Commercial
Decisions might be made with regard to engine structure that might have a constructive affect on elements equivalent to weight distribution and even aerodynamics.
In distinction, a buyer crew must take the engine they’re given and design the automobile round it.
That’s not essentially an obstacle, however it does imply the design timelines are modified.
McLaren proved in 2025 and 2026 that this doesn’t essentially forestall a crew from successful a championship as a buyer, particularly in a scenario the place a set of engine laws had been in existence for a very long time and the power-units have been properly understood.
Commercial
The difficulty for McLaren this yr is that in a brand new power-unit regulation, and one by which the operation of the engine was complicated due to the diploma of energy-management required and the intricacies of the principles which were imposed, they have been behind by way of working the engine.
That hole has narrowed quickly, due to work McLaren has carried out alongside Mercedes, to the extent that crew principal Andrea Stella mentioned in Japan that he “did not suppose that we have now left a lot unexploited”.
It stays the case, nonetheless, that the Mercedes automobile is best than the McLaren one – or was till Japan.
McLaren have upgrades coming for the subsequent races in Miami and Canada.
