Discussion: Mercedes AMG F1 is expecting the 2016 F1 cars to be louder! Good or Bad?

While Jean Alesi explains that F1 goes according to the era of the sport and that accepting the new low grind of the current badge of F1 cars is like accepting the new era, many of us has been missing that loud high pitch shriek that makes an F1 car what it is for decades.

With a blink of an eye, it has been two years since the FIA has downsized to the 1.6-litre turbocharged engine rules. The turbocharged power units have started producing so much less noise that there wasn’t a need for earplugs at all, even the side line races that happened alongside the Malaysia GP last year had generated more noise than the F1 cars.

But that was 2014 and 2015, in 2016 regulations have changed mandating two exhaust tailpipe exits rather than the one from the past two seasons. Paddy Lowe, Executive Director of the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 team, explained that the reason the cars sound “choked” is because the wastegate caused some sort of silencing of the main exhaust pipe and by separating the pipes they will have less silencing weighing down on the main flow.

So, while the presence of the main exhaust pipe reduces sound and creates a healthier environment for our ears some of us just cannot live without the shriek. Which would you prefer? A healthier-somewhat-choked grind of the old 1.6-litre cars or the V12 shriek of the fastest era of F1?

Discussions are welcomed!

Jerrica Leong