{"id":267796,"date":"2025-11-07T13:07:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T13:07:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/267796\/"},"modified":"2025-11-07T13:07:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T13:07:12","slug":"overtakes-in-obscure-locations-predicted-for-f1-2026-with-post-drs-cars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/267796\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cOvertakes in obscure locations\u201d predicted for F1 2026 with post-DRS cars"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mercedes<\/a> driver George Russell<\/a> is bullish about Formula 1\u2019s new technical era from 2026, predicting that racing will be improved.<\/p>\n

F1 is having one of its most comprehensive regulatory overhauls next year, with new power units featuring a near 50:50 split between combustion and electric power. Chassis will feature active aerodynamics, meaning all cars will enjoy low drag on the straights. As a consequence, DRS has been scrapped while a Manual Override Mode \u2013 likened to IndyCar\u2019s push-to-pass \u2013 will help provide more overtaking.<\/p>\n

Russell is actually unsure about the effect of the Override Mode, but believes the nimbler cars will be successful in improving the show \u2013 in potentially surprising ways.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think you’ll see more overtakes next year, but more overtakes in obscure locations, in locations where we’ve never seen overtakes before,\u201d the Mercedes racer said. \u201cIf a driver’s at the bottom of their battery, and the one behind has more battery in a given section of the track, they can suddenly jump past them at a corner in the past where there would never be an overtake.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn terms of override itself, I don’t know, but we said in the past we never like to see just pure DRS overtakes. I think the 2026 regs will offer better racing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"George <\/p>\n

George Russell, Mercedes<\/p>\n

Photo by: Sam Bloxham \/ LAT Images via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Pirelli has been developing its 2026 tyres, which will be narrower than their predecessors \u2013 but the Italian manufacturer is torn as ever between providing durable rubber that drivers can push on and creating variety in strategies. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are selfish as drivers, and you want the best cars, and the fastest cars, and the most enjoyable cars for us,\u201d Russell admitted. \u201cWe have to recognise that we are one of 20, and there’s 100+ million people following the sport week in, week out.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, I don’t know what the perfect solution is. If you could magically create a tyre, you’d say, if it’s a 60-lap race, a hard tyre could do 30 laps, and then it falls off a cliff, the medium does 20 laps, and it falls off a cliff, and the soft does 10 laps, and then it falls off a cliff. If you could magically achieve that, I guess that would be the perfect scenario, and then drivers can pick and choose different strategies.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut, I do appreciate for Pirelli it’s really not easy \u2013 developing a tyre, when we go to all these different circuits and all the circuits have different tarmacs as well, is very difficult. So, if all the tarmacs were the same across the tracks, then it would be much easier for them to develop a tyre to achieve something as we’ve spoken.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read Also:<\/p>\n

Mercedes is currently battling Ferrari<\/a> and Red Bull<\/a> for the runner-up spot in the constructors\u2019 championship \u2013 the Scuderia has collected 356 points, leading Mercedes (355) and Red Bull (346) \u2013 but Russell reiterated his team\u2019s commitment to next year\u2019s project only.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe probably have 95% of the team working on 2026,\u201d the Briton said. \u201cThe team you see at the racetrack, they’re like the final warriors who are focused on this year’s car, but in terms of development, everybody’s on next year.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven for me now, when I drive on the simulator, I’m driving only next year’s car, and focused on that. So, yeah, a lot of emphasis for 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

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– The Motorsport.com Team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mercedes driver George Russell is bullish about Formula 1\u2019s new technical era from 2026, predicting that racing will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":267797,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[120293,49,48,578,576,577,3024,1881,120292,82,123214],"class_list":["post-267796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-autu00f3dromo-josu00e9-carlos-pace","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-george-russell","tag-mercedes","tag-sao-paulo-gp","tag-sports","tag-u201covertakes-in-obscure-locationsu201d-predicted-for-f1-2026-with-post-drs-cars"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267796\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/267797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}