新规则让墨西哥大奖赛更具挑战性
墨西哥赛道海拔高达2286米，空气稀薄对车队和制造商构成挑战。
为什么F1的新规定让墨西哥大奖赛变得更加具有挑战性
墨西哥城的海拔一直是一个挑战，但在2026年，新的技术规定让F1车队、制造商和车手面临的情况更加复杂
位于海拔2286米的赫尔曼诺斯·罗德里格斯赛道是F1赛历上最高的场地。这自然意味着空气更加稀薄，这在墨西哥大奖赛对车队和制造商提出了两种独特的挑战。
首先，较低的空气密度意味着动力单元，尤其是涡轮，在墨西哥承受了相当大的压力。在海拔较高的地方，每立方米的氧气分子更少，这意味着涡轮需要更加努力地工作，才能将相同数量的氧气输送到发动机中，就像在海平面上一样。
涡轮增压器的转速必须显著提高才能达到所需的增压压力和空气流量，这不仅对直接性能提出了挑战，也对可靠性提出了挑战，因为涡轮增压器的运行温度比正常条件下显著更高。
这始终是一个挑战，这也是乔治·拉塞尔在周四的新闻发布会上如此明确地将法拉利定位为热门车队的原因，因为斯库德里亚在赛道上广为人知，其涡轮尺寸比许多竞争对手都要小。较小的涡轮叶片轮具有更小的质量和惯性，使得在驾驶员踩下油门后，涡轮可以更快地加速。
这有助于将涡轮迟滞降至最低，这正是本周末将是一个极其重要的因素。由于MGU-H已被移除，无法再帮助抵消涡轮迟滞，因此在2026年，这个挑战比以前要大得多。
“去年我们有MGU-H，所以我们从MGU-H那里得到了一些支持，但今年我们没有MGU-H了，这使得情况相当具有挑战性，”当Motorsport.com询问挑战时，本田首席工程师奥里哈拉说。
“例如，即使在怠速条件下，我们也需要MGU-H的支持来获得足够的增压压力，但今年即使在怠速条件下我们也没有任何支持。这与去年相比是一个很大的不同，因此涡轮迟滞是这个赛道上最有趣和最重要的主题。我认为这不仅是本田的问题，对所有制造商来说都是如此。他们都将在这个赛道的涡轮迟滞上遇到困难。”
“除了涡轮迟滞之外，还有一个重要的因素：发动机功率输出的程度。如果制造商无法在一般情况下实现所需的涡轮增压水平，本田表示这也会对其如何运行内燃机产生影响——换句话说，在最坏的情况下，功率输出会降低。”
“通常在墨西哥，涡轮增压器的速度相当高，以便获得足够的空气流量。我们需要检查，但在最坏的情况下，我们可能在发动机运行条件下有一些限制。到目前为止，我们已经做了很多动力测试，我们相信对我们的发动机运行条件几乎没有影响，或者只有很小的影响，但我们需要在自由练习中检查这些事情，”奥里哈拉解释道。”
“‘发动机运行条件’自然是指内燃机最大潜力可以发挥的程度，或者是否需要在高海拔地区进行限制。”
“每个涡轮增压器的运行速度都有一定的限制。如果我们达到[最大]运行速度，但我们仍然无法提供足够的增压压力，那么发动机的运行点将会受限。目前，我们没有任何担忧，但我们也需要在自由练习中检查这一点，”奥里哈拉继续说道。
鉴于日本制造商在新加坡也相当程度上遇到了涡轮增压器的涡轮迟滞问题，因此将特别有趣地看到本田在高原地区的表现。尽管它在马德里使用了本赛季第二次ADUO令牌，秘密引入了一种新的涡轮增压器，专门用于提高驾驶性，但这个问题在新加坡仍然证明是非常有问题的。
然而，好消息是，本田随后引入了'对策'，并且这些对策在奥斯汀产生了预期的效果。但墨西哥将提供最终的考验，奥里哈拉非常清楚这一点。
“所以，在奥斯汀，我们为涡轮迟滞带来了一些对策，并且我们已经确认了这些对策对迟滞的影响。这在我们来到这里之前对我们来说是非常积极的，”他说。
“在日本的樱岛，我们的设施仍在努力优化涡轮增压延迟。我们有多种方法来改善延迟。其中一种方法是我们的MGU-K收割策略，所以在樱岛，他们仍在努力改善涡轮增压延迟问题。”
“尽管我们在奥斯汀看到了一些积极的迹象，但对于我们来说，这仍然完全不同[因为海拔]。因此，看到我们的赛车在自由练习中的表现非常重要。”
“滑得要命”——主动空气动力学将使驾驶员的生活更加艰难
如前所述，MGU-H的缺失使得这一挑战对于所有制造商来说都更大，但这并不是影响墨西哥赛车周末的新规定中唯一的影响因素。第二个因素是主动空气动力学及其对车队在墨西哥通常选择的机翼的影响。
车队通常会在墨西哥选择摩纳哥级别的翼片设置，因为在海拔较高的地方这相对简单，因为空气阻力较低，因此付出的阻力代价也相对较小。然而，即使是那些极端的翼片选择，也只为车手们提供了相当于海拔摩纳哥规格翼片的下压力水平——换句话说，这是光谱的另一端。
然而，今年由于主动空气动力学的原因，这种变化大多已经消失，正如红牛车手在媒体日解释的那样。
“这里的抓地力要小得多。由于海拔，我们通常会有翼片来稍微补偿这一点，但现在你基本上只跑一个翼片，”马克斯·维斯塔潘说。
而主动空气动力学导致车手们在奥斯汀的起伏道路上更加挣扎——因为赛车在直道上速度更快，给车队在滑块磨损方面的安全边际，并允许他们在弯道中跑得更低——但在墨西哥，这导致下压力更低。
也应该注意的是，2026年的赛车与地面效应时代的赛车相比，本身就具有显著更少的下压力。因此，伊萨克·哈迪尔已经预测，这个周末对车手来说将会“滑得要命”。
The理论上能提供更多抓地力的新沥青，可以部分弥补这一点，但这又是车队在模拟中尚未完全考虑到的另一个变量，正如阿斯顿·马丁的首席赛道官员迈克·克拉克所承认的。
“通常情况下，当他们重新铺设赛道时，赛道会更加光滑，抓地力也会更高，这应该会有所帮助，”克拉克说。"
“显然，我们会损失20-25%的密度，这在负荷上相当于同样的数值。你在轮胎与路面互动方面能获得的任何优势都会有所帮助。我认为，随着抓地力的增加，我们将朝着正确的方向迈出一大步。”
“现在在第一节练习中这里通常非常脏，所以赛道会有很大的改善。我们很好奇它会如何变化，以及我们是否可以从一开始就获得更好的抓地力。”
总的来说，这意味着墨西哥的海拔高度今年比以往任何时候都带来了更多的挑战，无论是在动力单元和底盘方面，而且车队在比赛周末面临的问题也比平时更多。
英文原文
Why F1's new regulations make the Mexican GP an even bigger challenge
Mexico City's altitude always presents challenges, but in 2026 the new technical regulations have made things even more complicated for F1 teams, manufacturers and drivers
At 2,286 metres above sea level, the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez is by far the highest-altitude venue on the Formula 1 calendar. This naturally means thinner air, which presents a unique challenge at the Mexican Grand Prix for teams and manufacturers in two ways.
Firstly, the lower air density means that the power unit, and particularly the turbo, is put under considerable strain in Mexico. At altitude, there are fewer oxygen molecules per cubic metre, meaning the turbo has to work harder to get the same amount of oxygen into the engine as it would at sea level.
The turbo has to spin considerably faster to achieve the required boost pressure and airflow, which presents a challenge not only in terms of outright performance but also reliability, with the turbo operating at significantly higher temperatures than under normal conditions.
This is always a challenge in Mexico and also explains why George Russell pointed so clearly towards Ferrari as the favourites during Thursday's press conference, given that the Scuderia is widely known in the paddock to have a smaller turbo than many of its rivals. A smaller turbine wheel has less mass and inertia, allowing the turbo to spool up more quickly after the driver presses the throttle.
This helps to keep turbo lag to a minimum, and that is precisely what promises to be a hugely important factor this weekend. In 2026, this challenge has become considerably greater than before because the MGU-H has been removed and can no longer assist in counteracting turbo lag.
“Last year, we had the MGU-H, so we had some support from MGU-H, but this year we don't have the MGU-H anymore, so that makes it quite challenging,” Honda’s chief engineer Shintaro Orihara said when asked about the challenges by Motorsport.com.
“For example, even just in idle conditions, we had MGU-H support to get enough boost pressure, but this year we don't have any support even in idle conditions. That is a big difference from last year and therefore turbo lag is the most interesting and important topic at this track. I think that is not only the case for Honda, but for all manufacturers. They will all struggle with turbo lag at this track.”
Besides turbo lag, there is another important factor: the extent to which the engine’s power output is affected. If manufacturers cannot achieve the desired level of turbo boost in general, Honda says this could also have consequences for how it has to run the internal combustion engine – in other words, in the worst-case scenario, with a lower power output.
“Normally in Mexico, the turbo charger speed is quite high to get enough airflow. We need to check, but we may have some restrictions on the engine operation condition in the worst case. At the moment, we have done a lot of dyno testing and we believe there is almost no impact, or only a small impact on our engine operation condition, but we need to check these things in free practice,” Orihara explained.
That “engine operation condition” naturally refers to the extent to which the internal combustion engine's maximum potential can be exploited, or whether it has to be restricted at altitude.
“Every turbo charger has some limitations in terms of its operational speed. If we hit that [maximum] operational speed and we still can’t provide enough boost pressure, then the operation point of the engine will be limited. At the moment, we don't have any concern, but we need to check this in free practice as well,” Orihara continued.
It will be particularly interesting to see how Honda performs at altitude, given that the Japanese manufacturer also struggled considerably with turbo lag in Singapore. Although it had used its second ADUO token of the season in Madrid to secretly introduce a new turbocharger, specifically to improve driveability, the issue still proved highly problematic in Singapore.
The good news, however, is that Honda has since introduced 'countermeasures' and that these had the desired effect in Austin. Mexico will provide the ultimate test, though, as Orihara is well aware.
“So in Austin, we have brought some countermeasures for turbo lag, and we have confirmed the effect of those on the lag. That was quite positive for us before coming to here,” he said.
“And also in Sakura, our facility in Japan, they are still working hard to optimise turbo lag. We have a lot of options to improve the lag. One option is our harvesting strategy with the MGU-K, so in Sakura, they are still working hard to improve the turbo lag situation.
“But even after we saw some positive signs in Austin, this is still completely different for us [with the altitude]. So it's quite important to see how our car behaves in free practice.”
“Slippery as hell” – Why active aerodynamics will make life even harder for drivers
As mentioned, the absence of the MGU-H makes this challenge considerably greater for all manufacturers, but that is not the only aspect of the new regulations that will affect the race weekend in Mexico. A second factor concerns active aerodynamics and its impact on the wings that teams would normally choose in Mexico.
Teams generally opt for Monaco-level wing settings in Mexico, which is relatively straightforward at altitude because air resistance is lower and the price paid in terms of drag is therefore also considerably smaller. Nevertheless, even those extreme wing choices only give drivers the downforce levels of, say, Monza-spec wings at altitude – in other words, the opposite end of the spectrum.
This year, however, much of that variation has disappeared because of active aerodynamics, as both Red Bull drivers explained during the media day.
“Here is a lot less grip. With the altitude, we normally have the wings to compensate a little bit for that, but now you basically just run one wing,” Max Verstappen said.
While active aerodynamics led to drivers struggling even more with the bumps in Austin – because the cars came up on the straights, giving teams a safety margin in terms of skid block wear and allowing them to run even lower through the corners – in Mexico it results in even less downforce.
It should also be noted that the 2026 cars already have significantly less downforce than their predecessors from the ground-effect era anyway. Isack Hadjar has therefore already predicted that this weekend will be “slippery as hell” for the drivers.
The new asphalt, which should theoretically provide more grip, could partly compensate for this, but it is another variable that teams have not yet been able to fully account for in their simulations, as Aston Martin's chief trackside officer Mike Krack acknowledged.
“Normally when they resurface it, the track is smooth and the grip is higher, which should help,” Krack said.
“Obviously we lose 20-25% of density, which is the same equivalent in load. Whatever you can gain in terms of tyre-road interaction will help you. I think there will be a step in the right direction with more grip.
“Now it's often very dirty here in the first session, so the track will improve quite a lot. We are curious to see how it will change and if we can have better grip from the beginning.”
All in all, this means that Mexico's altitude presents even more challenges this year than it usually does, both on the power unit and chassis sides, and that teams are heading into the race weekend with even more question marks than normal.
Motorsport.com ·
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