FIA bold claims about F1 2026 regulations – As Formula One hurtles towards the end of its 75th celebratory season, the teams back at base are now focusing on delivering their racing prototypes for next season. In what is the biggest technical regulation shake up in F1’s history, much has been written about a potential radical change in the current pecking order.
Much of the focus has been on the new power units and whether they will run out of electrical charge, embarrassing the sport at certain circuits where braking and electrical regeneration is low. To cope with the incremental torque the new powertrains will deploy, the unusual decision was taken for the chassis and aerodynamics to also undertake an extraordinary overhaul.
Banned for decades (except for DRS), driver operated movable aero parts will feature on the 2026 cars. The driver will operate these to increase downforce through the corners, and then reduce the drag and downforce when hurtling down the straight.
Regulations designed to improve overtaking
The current set of regulations were primarily focused on improving overtaking. This was to be achieved by robbing the upper bodywork of 50% of its downforce. It was replaced with downforce created under the floor, via the ground effect Venturi channels meaning the ‘dirty air’ vortices were much reduced.
This did improve overtaking in 2022, but mission creep has seen the teams find ways to add aerodynamic components which have increasingly made it difficult for the car behind to follow closely.
As in 2021, the big hope is that in 2026, the technical regulations will improve overtaking on a number of fronts. First of all DRS will be abandoned and replaced with an Indycar style push to pass feature.
The driver will have complete freedom where to deploy their extra energy, not just in the zones in which the DRS function currently is only enabled. Fernando Alonso recently commented that this would see drivers making overtaking moves in ‘unusual places.’ Alternatively one driver will overtake another, then run out of electrical energy and be re-passed – in ‘whacky races’ style.
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Dirty air now costs 30% of downforce at 20 metres
In Las Vegas, the FIA’s director of day to day affairs, Nikolas Tombazis, faced questions over the improvements the 2026 regulations will bring.
“The 2022 cars started off with a significant improvement in their wake characteristics,” Tombazis said. “I don’t remember the exact numbers, but the loss of downforce at, say, 20 metres behind — if I remember correctly, and I may be slightly off — went from about 50% on the previous generation of cars to around 80 or 85% at the start of 2022.
“Then that gradually decayed during the regulation cycle to what it is now which – again I’m not entirely sure – but we’re probably talking more like 70%. This is why cars are struggling a bit more now when following than in 2022, although it’s still better than 2021.”
2022 cars designed to retain downforce
Tombazis explains the reason for this slippage. “In some areas of the current regulations, some loopholes or unintended designs caused a significant worsening,” he explained. “The front wing endplate area is one clear example, where shapes evolved to create a lot of outwash. The inside of the front brake drums also worsened the wake, and the floor edges were another factor.
“All of these areas, little by little, contributed to the worsening of the current cars’ characteristics,” stated the FIA official. However, Tombazis believes the new regulations have been designed to address a significant amount of this issue.
“We think that in developing the regulations for ’26, we’ve learned a lot, and we hope to maintain good wake characteristics for longer, or at least avoid the same level of decay,” he said. “There will definitely be some, but hopefully not as much as this cycle.”
In 2022, the car designs allowed for around 80% of the downforce for there following car at 20 metres back. The new rules push that number even higher. “We believe the start of the new cycle will be more like 90% or so,” Tombazis said. “So we believe it’s going to be better than it’s ever been.”
‘More exciting’ racing predicted
Of course with such a huge change in the technical regulations, it is likely the pack will be less close initially. At the recent Sao Paulo Grand Prix for the second time this season, the entire field in qualifying one were closer than ever before.
“With new regulations, one expects a slightly bigger spread in the field at first,” adds Tombazis. “But aerodynamically, we expect cars to follow much more closely. The wake characteristics are much improved, and we’ve applied a lot of what we learned from 2022.
“Then there’s the transition from DRS to energy as the overtaking aid. That will change the nature of racing and make it more unpredictable. Together with the aerodynamic changes, I think racing will ultimately become more exciting.”
One disappointment in the new regulations is that the weight of the cars remains incredibly high. The FIA stated three years ago they intended to make significant savings in this area for 2026, although the weight drop is small, just 25kg.
2026 field will be spread
The cars will be marginally smaller in their footprint along with wheelbase reductions and smaller tyres. Overall downforce is expected to fall a massive 50%, so the cars will be several seconds slower a lap initially.
Red Bull’s chief engineer, Paul Monaghan, believes the pack will be more spread at the start of next year. “If a driver deploys his energy differently and you’re a little bit inefficient in your use around the lap, an overtake is actually quite practical or feasible,” he said.
“So, I think the scatter of car usage and performance could be greater than we currently have. And as such, the racing will be different in that we may not be as closed up as we currently are – but we’ll see. And then you’ve got the uncertainty of completely new cars, new electronics, and will everybody make it to the end? We’ll find out. It’s unpredictable at the moment.”
Audi boss, Mattia Binotto, observed earlier this week: It will not be the team which hits the ground running who will necessarily win the day, but one which is highly adaptive and can bring upgrades thick and fast to its race car.
Red Bull exploit cost cap rules
Whilst Max Verstappen’s drive from pit lane to podium in Brazil was an epic watch, some of the competitors were unhappy with how Red Bull had turned their weekend around.
Following a troubled qualifying session that saw both Verstappen and Yuki Tsunoda knocked out in Q1, Red Bull chose to install a fresh power unit in the four-time world champion’s car—forcing him to start from the pit lane. The gamble paid off despite an early-race puncture with Lando Norris admitting had Max Started a little higher up he would probably have won the race.
Red Bull fitting a new power unit which was outside the allocated four for the year was questioned by McLaren’s team boss Andreas Stella who stressed that McLaren would avoid making a performance-driven engine change because of the implications for the $135 million cost cap…. READ MORE
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