Last Updated on June 17 2024, 9:45 am
Formula One will see the biggest ever changes in tis regulations come the 2026 season. Whilst retaining the V6 turbo hybrid architecture for the powertrain, all new bio fuel will power the cars and the battery will contribute more than 300% more to the BHP.
Yet the biggest challenge will be to deliver moveable aerodynamics on both the front and rear of the car to increase downforce in corners and reduce drag on the straights.
No F1 slide towards spec series
The big difference between F1 and the premier single seater racing series in North America – Indycar – is that the cars stateside a part of what is known as a spec series. The chassis/aero are all the same and made by Dallara and the engines are either from Cadillac or from Honda.
Formula One is quite different from Indycar as the sport has always been as much about innovation and different design ideas as it is about racing – and of course the cars under their skins are all very different.
In the run up to the Canadian Grand Prix, the FIA published a draft set of the proposed regulations for 2026. Immediately the paddock media were reporting that a number of senior paddock folk were not happy with them. Yet team bosses remained tight lipped when asked for their thoughts.
The F1 teams have been working with the FIA to flesh out the ideas for 2026, but are not allowed to start modelling aero components in the wind tunnel until the start of 2025. This does not prevent them from mulling over potential concepts and solutions.
Schumacher tired with Mercedes role
Horner demands “enough freedom”
Christian Horner has now broken ranks with his fellow team bosses and given a detailed response to his thoughts on the draft FIA regulations which must be ratified by the World Motorsport Council by June 28th. He believes there will need to be “compromises” from the teams but most important is that the FIA ensure there is a “differential” and allowable different approaches to the new rules.
Of course as part of the collaboration with the FIA on car design rules, different teams prefer different approaches but this creates different agendas when petitioning the FIA which Horner hopes will not evolve into self interest coming before improved racing.
The Red Bull boss calls for F1’s governing body to build in “enough freedom” into the new regulations. “It’s tricky, isn’t it? As Colin Chapman used to say, show me the rules, and I’ll decide if I enter or not,” Horner joked at a recent press conference.
When asked if self interests could derail the compromise and freedom F1 need, Horner replied: “And I think it’s the same for everybody, there’s going to be compromises. I think the most important thing is that there’s enough freedom for there to be differential between the cars so they don’t all look identical.”
Verstappen ridicules FIA rules
Max Verstappen ridiculed the efforts of the FIA to produce cats that are more “nimble” when he saw the modest reduction in footprint from the current behemoths.
“You need at least 100-150kg [reduction],” the Dutchman told motorsport.com. The FIA admit the actual reduction will be around just 30kg.
“At the moment with how everything is, for sure it’s not possible. But that is also to do with the engine, right? Engine and battery related – it’s very heavy and long, wide,” said the world champion.
Of course safety developments like the halo and side impact crash structures have added weight over the years yet as Verstappen highlights it is the hybrid power units which create most of the bulk and ditching these in the future would achieve the 150kg weight reduction.
Hamilton’s mind games: “Message” to Russell
F1 Teams still overweight
“At the moment it’s wishful thinking,” says Max, “but that is definitely what we need, to make it more agile and probably a bit more fun.”
Back in 2013 before the V6 hybrid tubo monsters arrived, the minimum weight for the cars was 642kg, which is around 150kg less than the current regulations allow for. Yet can the FIA even achieve the 30kg Verstappen questions.
“It’s gonna be very tough with how everything is, but let’s see,” says Max. “I mean, even now, some teams are overweight, right?
“So, to go even 30 kilos less – of course, I know that the dimensions change a little bit, but I’m not sure that 30 kilos will be the perfect scenario.”
Leclerc unhappy with race engineer
Bigger batteries – more weight
Verstappen observes even in season three of this set of F1 car design regulations some teams are still over weight with their designs. One of the problems for the engine manufacturers for 2026 is the fact the power units will have even more hybrid power from the electrical side.
This requires more battery power, three times to be precise, and more battery power brings significantly more weight.
The man who runs F1 on a day top day basis at the FIA disagrees with Verstappen. “We’ve got a range of areas where we know weight will go up. And we’ve got a range of areas where we know weight will go down,” says FIA Single Seater Director Nikolas Tombazis. “And what we have as a target is based on a challenging, but what we feel is [a] feasible target.”
Around the time of the announcement of the FIA 2026 regulations, F1 supremo Stefano Domenicali gave fans the hope that one day the hybrid units would be no more.
“F1 has always been seen as having the lightest and best cars, so if sustainable fuels are successful we could go back to a situation where the battery is not needed any more,” Domenicali told CNBC.
Williams announce recruit with “high F1 accolades”
Logan Sargeant to be sacked to make way for Kimi Antonelli
Toto Wolff has a pretty big headache as he ponders who he should recruit to replace the outgoing Lewis Hamilton at the end of this year. Ideally the Mercedes boss would have placed their academy driver Kimi Antonelli with a team like Williams for a year, but he is struggling to find a top driver prepared to sign with the silver arrows for just one year.
Antronelli is just 17 years of age until August and recently a mysterious team – not Mercedes claimed Toto Wolff – applied to the FIA to change their regulations which demand a driver must be 18 to compete in F1../. READ MORE
With over 30 years of experience in Formula 1 as an insider journalist, I have built trusted connections across the paddock, from race engineers and mechanics to senior team figures. At The Judge 13, I and a handful of trusted colleagues share exclusive Formula 1 news, expert analysis and behind-the-scenes stories you will not find in mainstream motorsport media.
