Tech Show: What can teams learn by running 2026 tyres on mule cars?
The Race F1 Podcast
The Race Media Ltd
4.5 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 12 December 2025
⏱️ 50 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On the latest episode of The Race F1 Tech Show, Edd Straw and Gary Anderson discuss the unusual taste of 2026 we got with the tyre-test running in Abu Dhabi after the grand prix. That was done using the definitive 2026 Pirelli tyres, but with 'mule cars' adapted to replicate downforce levels, so how useful - or not - will that running have been? Edd and Gary discuss.
Gary also answers questions from listeners about whether teams should be able to develop their own tyres, whether a return to simplified aero would solve F1's dirty air issue, and on the fine margins used to control plank wear. Plus, Edd and Gary discuss Williams' progress this season, with Atlassian's customer CTO Andrew Boyagi joining to explain the company's role in Williams' step forward.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Athletic |
| 0:02.7 | Gary explains what could be gained from testing 2026 Pirelli's on mule cars |
| 0:14.5 | and answers your questions on a no-holds barred tire war, |
| 0:17.8 | Red Bulls 26 prospects, ride height changes and simplified arrow. |
| 0:28.1 | I'm Ed Straw. With me, of course, is the star of the show, Gary Anderson. Seasonal done and |
| 0:33.3 | dusted, next season's testing is not very far away. I must admit, in Abu Dhabi recently, |
| 0:38.5 | a lot of people in teams and drivers were thinking, oh, it's not very long. Well, the drivers get |
| 0:42.5 | time off. The people in teams don't get so much. What did you always feel when you got to this |
| 0:48.1 | end of the season, Gary, and everything was largely done and dusted? Was there a moment |
| 0:53.3 | to breathe, or was it just flat out on next year? |
| 0:56.7 | Yeah, I suppose the first thing he do is take a big breath of fresh air as such and say, |
| 1:00.7 | right, okay, next year starts here. I mean, it's almost immediate to switch over, to be honest. |
| 1:06.2 | A lot of the teams will have been really focusing on 2026 from a while back. So know the 2026 season started you know at least six months ago for for everybody um so there isn't really a gap in the middle if you know it i mean it's just it's just one season's dying and done and dusted and you sort of look at it quickly and think did you achieve what you sort of thought you should? |
| 1:27.9 | Or did you underperform or did you actually overperform? |
| 1:31.4 | And you got to digest that sort of stuff very, very quickly and just get on in the next year. |
| 1:36.1 | So there's no big break for you. |
| 1:38.2 | As you say, the drivers will get a bit of a break now, which obviously they deserve. |
| 1:42.5 | It's difficult. |
| 1:45.8 | You know, I know the mechanics, they work hard, they spend lots of hours doing what they're doing, but they still, they have |
| 1:51.6 | something to focus on quite a lot. You know, whenever you're a driver, you sort of get in a car, |
| 1:56.5 | Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, you do your job, and then you have to go away and the rest of the gap between races becomes a whatever. |
| 2:05.0 | You know, you've got to train, you've got to do all the right things. |
... |
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