The expected chaos at the up coming Barcelona test has F1 fans and analysts salivating. Despite reports suggesting one team may have an advantage over the field, the reality is nobody knows which powertrain and which chassis interpretation of the new rules will come out on top.
What is almost certain is reliability will become an issue again for the teams as they make this huge leap into the unknown. The FIA is still refining the rules for how the new overtake button will be deployed and there will still be DRS style zones where the incremental electrical energy may deployed along the straights.
Nobody really understands how well the newly allowed moveable front and rear wings will work out and which lubricant supplier has designed the most efficient bio fuel. Having watched and been involved in F1 for over forty five years, this writer cannot remember a previous era where everything for the coming season is so uncertain.
2026: In season F1 car development crucial
Formula One teams not only build a unique prototype racing car each year, but a key feature of the sport is how they deliver their in season car development. Cars will often improve between 1-2 seconds a lap over the course of the year as the upgrades come quick and fast and this is where the space race for F1 in 2026 will be fought.
As last year’s championship battle raced towards a conclusion in Abu Dhabi, Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur had this to say: “Next year it won’t be about the first picture of the season, it won’t be all about the classification of Australia, it will be a lot about the capacity for quick development. The season won’t be over in Australia for sure, it doesn’t matter if we are P1 or P10, but it will be a long way until the end, it will be a long way for everybody.”
Some have taken this as Fred heading off potential criticism of the 2026 Ferrari F1 project given their Powertrains program has been labelled as behind the likes of Red Bull and Mercedes. Yet Vasseur is right because the learning curve for 2026 is enormous and no team will ace the new technical regulations in their entirety from the off.
One of the key objectives for the FIA this season is to improve the racing and make overtaking less of a chore. With the current cars at certain tracks, even being a second quicker than the car in front is not enough for the faster car to complete a pass.
Vettel pinpoints the moment of his decline
Pit stop jeopardy adds excitement
The FIA and Pirelli have played around with F1’s tyres for a decade and a half in an attempt to introduce some strategic interest into Grand Prix racing, with varying degrees of success. Pirelli were given the brief to create tyres which degrade significantly, meaning pit stop strategy would become a key part of racing.
Of course a pit stop introduces some levels of jeopardy as McLaren so clearly demonstrated in Monza last season. There Lando Norris ceded his right to the first pit stop to ensure his team mate behind him was not undercut by Charles Leclerc.
The tragedy for McLaren was when Norris came in for what would have been Piastri’s stop, one of the wheel guns failed meaning the British driver was stationary for over five seconds. The team embarrassingly had to order their Aussie driver to move aside and return Norris to his original position.
Of all the world’s premier racing series, Formula One is the only one which does not allow the teams to refuel their cars. In both the World Endurance Racing series and Indycar, this is all part of racing. Refuelling had been part of Formula One’s DNA until it was banned in 2010 due to concerns over high octane fuel in hot cars making the risk of a fire more probable.
Schumacher: “Verstappen has the Michael gene”
Zak Brown calls for refuelling in F1
Unlike Indycar which is primarily USA based, with one event in Canada, Formula One is a truly global motorsport series and carting expensive and heavy refuelling kits around the world is also considered prohibitive. Further, it was felt that refuelling created hidden race strategies which the fans could not understand and by loading the cars with fuel at the start created a different racing dynamic than when the cars were lighter later in the Grand Prix.
Now McLaren F1 CEO, Zak Brown believes despite the impending massive new rule set coming for 2026, that Formula One should bring back refuelling. “I think if we got back into refuelling, it would be cool,” Brown tells talkSPORT. “That would make pit stops, add another dimension to it, but also add a big strategic dimension,” Brown posited.
During the run in for the 2025 season, both McLaren cars fell foul of the FIA’s minimum ride height regulations and were disqualified after the chequered flag. In fact across the year four drivers were disqualified for this transgression. Brown argues refuelling would make this less likely given the weight of the car would vary less during the 300km of a Grand Prix.
Aston Martin’s head start for 2026
The lost sight of the incredible 2 second pit stop
The topic of refuelling in Formula One divides fans and pundits alike. Its reintroduction would cancel one of the most iconic spectacles of F1 racing. The sight of up to 16 mechanics surrounding the car and in 2 seconds or less having the tyres changed and maybe the front wing angle adjusted before the car launches away down the pit lane would be lost.
Yet Zak Brown is insistent. “If you got into refuelling, weight makes such a difference. Do you run heavy at the start and go long? Do you run light to get a better start? So it would add a lot of dimensions to the strategy that I think would be fascinating.”
So the McLaren CEO believes F1 should go back to create its future although there appears little appetite from the FIA at present to consider refuelling as a serious option.
FIA rules prevented Hamilton’s 8th title
Did the cost cap nobble Mercedes’ ground effect era? – The introduction of the budget cap in 2021 followed one of the most controversial conclusions in Formula 1 history: the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, in which Lewis Hamilton narrowly lost the championship to Max Verstappen. Although Mercedes had dominated the sport for almost a decade, the new financial restrictions limited their capacity to invest heavily in research, development and infrastructure.
The radical ground-effect regulations for 2022 demanded rapid innovation, but the cost cap effectively constrained Mercedes’ capacity to respond mid-season, potentially halting Hamilton’s momentum towards an eighth title…. READ MORE
A.J. Hunt is Senior Editor at TJ13, where Andrew oversees editorial standards and contributes to the site’s Formula 1 coverage. A career journalist with experience in both print and digital sports media, Andrew trained in investigative journalism and has written for a range of European sports outlets.
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While moveable aero will have designated zones for utilization, i.e., almost all full-throttle sections (albeit still available at all times for everyone in green-flag dry running), the overtake mode won’t have anything similar as it’ll be utilizable all around a lap in all sessions, with the only different being that in the races & sprints, the trailing driver will have more electrical boost to utilize than the driver ahead from a given detection point onwards, which will nominally locate at the last or last proper corner on each circuit.
Therefore, once the driver behind is within a second at that point, he can utilize the electric boost to a greater extent than the driver ahead anywhere he desires.
Nevertheless, all around a lap like with KERS, ERS, & Super Formula’s Overtake System since all are about electrical boost rather than aero.
As for Zak’s point, I couldn’t disagree more regarding in-race refuelling, which was always detrimental to on-track overtaking & limited strategic variability in comparison to tyres as fuel loads give far less scope for stint-extenting than tyres, not to mention the cost cap didn’t exist in 1994-2009, so all things considered, in-race refuelling is something that will never be re-allowed in F1.
However, I don’t think the cost cap has prevented Lewis from winning the world championship for the eighth time, per se.