Last Updated on December 14 2025, 10:48 pm

FIA fight the teams for an F1 rule change – Formula One is never as simple as drivers’ competing for a championship. Behind the scenes is the infamous Piraña club where the levels of power in the sport are pressed.

The FIA is F1’s regulatory body and policeman as they are responsible for setting the technical specifications for F1 along with those which govern sporting practices.

Yet the FIA do not have carte blanche to do as they please in this area, certain rule changes require a simple majority at the F1 commission, whilst others can be vetoed at that time.

 

 

 

The struggle with the PU manufacturing F1 teams

This year the FIA called a big meeting of the teams and manufacturers in Bahrain, to discuss the possibility of scaling back the percentage electrical output from the new powertrains. In this case it was the manufacturers who held the power given if just two abstained, the regulation could not be introduced.

Exactly this happened, so the FIA devised a a workaround, taking the matter to the World Motorsport Council in October this year. Following that meeting, details were confirmed to prevent any single manufacturer falling behind in the competition as di Renault in 2014.

The number of PU manufacturers will increase for five in 2026 with Honda changing their mind and staying plus the addition of Audi and Red Bull-Ford in addition to current players Ferrari and Mercedes. Renault are withdrawing at the end of this year. 

Throughout the season, the FIA will carefully monitor the progress of the five manufacturers and now have the power to award one or more ‘Additional development and upgrade opportunities (ADUO). The windows to grant these open after round 6, 12 and 18 and the 2026 F1 calendar has again 24 rounds.

Consequences for McLaren over refusal to ditch ‘papaya rules’

 

 

 

FIA catch up system designed

The powers behind thew ADUO are not specified for public consumption but could take a number of forms in terms of allowing a change in the engine architecture, relaxing the cost cap newly placed on the manufacturers in 2026 and allowing additional hours of research and development.

So in the end the FIA kind of got its way, but in a roundabout way of doing things. Further, should the electrical side of the power unit prove problematic, they willl again go to the Motorsport Council and seek powers to intervene on that front.

During the current set of regulations which ran from 2022, where all development on the power units was frozen and the aero dynamics were radically changed to allow ground effect cars, the FIA struggled to get certain aspects of the rules tweaked.

The intention of ground effect was to reduce the amount turbulent air coming from the back of the cars, to enable closer racing and more overtakes. The downforce loss in 2021 when a car was within 10 metres of another was a massive 50%.

Wolff dramatic claim of 2026 F1 hybrid

 

 

 

Reflecting on F1’s 2022 rule change

The revised regulations in 2022 saw this fall to just 20%, a victory for the FIA. This regulation saw the speed advantage required to complete a pass fall from 1.06 seconds to 0.42. The number of overtakes increased significantly that season, although subsequent advances in aero from the teams has seen the dirty air now almost as bad as in 2021.

This was evident in the recent Qatar Grand Prix where after a strategic blunder by the McLaren team, Lando Norris lay in fifth place with much fresher tyres than the car in front. Ahead was Kimi Antonelli committed to stopping on lap 7 and 32 leaving himself a 25 lap stint to complete the race. Norris stopped on lap 44 and despite his 12 lap fresher tyres, he could not make his way past the Mercedes driver. 

A mistake from Kimi on the penultimate lap allowed Norris through to claim the crucial two points he the needed for win the drivers’ championship. The problem has slowly returned as the teams have developed their ground effect cars.

Reflecting on how well the FIA did with the 2022 F1 regulations, the FIA’s head of day to day operations, Nikolas Tombazis accepts they were not perfect. “I think we’ve made a significant step in the right direction on most of these aims, but I certainly wouldn’t claim total success on everything, so I wouldn’t give us an A star. I would give us a B or a C, or something like that,” said Tombazis in Abu Dhabi.

The real story behind Marko’s Red Bull departure

 

 

 

Financial restrictions worked well

The area with which the Greek born officer is most pleased is that of the stable financial regulations and cost cap. As for improving the racing, the evidence is less solid. “The technical side, I think yes, definitely cars did get to a point where they could race each other more closely,” said Tombazis, referring to 2022 and 2023.

“Where we don’t give ourselves full marks, is that there were a few, I wouldn’t quite call them loopholes, but there were certainly some areas of the regulations that were a bit too permissible let’s say. And that enabled teams to adopt solutions which created outwash.”

Outwash is the new cardinal sin in the latest aerodynamics bible, it is where the air is funnelled around the outside of the tyres and the front of the car instead of the air being guided inside. This creates more turbulence for the car behind than surprisingly the traditional large rear wings on the cars.

The main problem was the front endplates which was originally designed to deliver in wash. yet the specifications on the relative profiles were pushed to the limit and the latest set of front wings delivered a lot out out wash.

Why F1’s 2026 PU has major issues

 

 

 

FIA director reveals teams reluctance to change

Tombazis now reveals the FIA wished to delver change in this area to improve the racing, but were hampered by the teams who refused to play ball. “These areas I mentioned, it’s not like that is something new today. It was also the case two years ago. Why we didn’t [change the rules]? Well, we tried, but we didn’t have enough support among the teams,” he said.

“It needs governance to change regulations during a cycle – and therefore it means that a large number of teams need to support certain changes. It’s not just us wanting to do something.”

The endplate designs for 2026 are very different and no longer sit at the outer limit of the tyre. Now they sit level with the inside line of the tyre wall so all the diverted air will go inside the front wheels. However, Tombazis is candid in terms of the innovation the team’s can deliver time and again.

“The outwash, we obviously believe that it will be better, but let’s have this discussion in two years and hopefully we will tell you that it was all OK and we will be all smiling,” he concluded.

 

 

 

Marko turns on Horner in shock interview

“Dirty games were being played…” says Helmut Marko, who breaks his silence on the Red Bull power struggle = Helmut Marko has finally spoken, and his words will send shockwaves through Formula 1. In an exclusive farewell interview with De Telegraaf published today, and what could be seen as a ‘mic-drop moment’ for the F1 paddock, the departing Red Bull advisor lifts the lid on the internal power struggle that has torn the team apart over the past two seasons.

While Red Bull’s official statement cites sporting reasons for Marko’s sudden exit, the 82-year-old Austrian paints a far darker picture: one of deception, internal warfare, and what he openly describes as “dirty games”.

Marko’s comments offer the clearest insight yet into why Red Bull Racing imploded from within, and why the exit of Christian Horner was only part of a much bigger story…. READ MORE