2026 Aerodynamic & Chassis Regulations

[organic]

We have some more concrete news of how the 2026 chassis will turn out. According to an AMuS article published today with translation available here the current plans are:

- Reduction in width from 200cm to 190cm

- Wheelbase shortened by at least 20cm, moving from 360cm to 340cm.

- Smaller cars and smaller wings will result in 40% less downforce

- 50kg lighter cars is the aim, with Pat Symonds believing at least 20kg reduction is realistic

- With the cost cap, it is possible that the minimum weight requirement will be abandoned

- Active aero will be used to minimize drag on the straights and compensate in laptime for the reduction in downforce and power

- A mystery possible silver bullet to improve overtaking can be included in the 2026 regs, but Pat Symonds does not want to reveal what it is yet

The good news is that overtaking should become easier without artificial aids. The engineers are planning a small concept change that was already discussed for the 2022 cars, but was then put on the back burner. Symonds doesn't want to reveal what it is yet. Just this much: It should be much easier to follow another car in the future.

[organic]

My guess as to what the mystery that pat Symonds does not want to reveal is some sort of reverse drs. The closer you get to the car in front, the loss of downforce due to dirty air can be compensated for with increasing front/rear wing angle in the corners only. This would compensate the lost downforce from running closely behind in corners and not hurt on the straight if they are already using active aero on the straights.

I believe this was mentioned in the run-up to 2022 regs by Symonds or Brawn already.. but something they didn't use.

Just my expectation of what this hidden idea might be. But if this would not work please point out!

[Stu]

My guess as to what the mystery that pat Symonds does not want to reveal is some sort of reverse drs. The closer you get to the car in front, the loss of downforce due to dirty air can be compensated for with increasing front/rear wing angle in the corners only. This would compensate the lost downforce from running closely behind in corners and not hurt on the straight if they are already using active aero on the straights.

I believe this was mentioned in the run-up to 2022 regs by Symonds or Brawn already.. but something they didn't use.

Just my expectation of what this hidden idea might be. But if this would not work please point out!

Such a device would be technically interesting, as the only ‘fair’ way to implement it is to nullify the effect of the dirty air on downforce.
To do this a base level of downforce would need to known (and measured) for each car - teams already do this within their data collection.
Each car would have its own ‘normal’ level (which depends on setup choices at each track); single car qualifying runs could be used to generate this measured level (and constantly updates to account for updates/upgrades).
It wouldn’t give a following car an advantage, but would allow for the disadvantage of dirty air to be negated.
Only a single actuator per wing assembly would be needed (adjusting AoA of each assembly), while also allowing DRS to continue to function.
Using DRS would result in these actuators reverting to their ‘normal’ position.

Such a device would also make the cars less sensitive to tail-winds in braking zones.

It is also possible for the FIA to monitor via the standard ECU (much as they do with fuel flow) to prevent abuse.

[Tommy Cookers]

- Smaller cars and smaller wings will result in 40% less downforce

- Active aero will be used to minimize drag on the straights and compensate in laptime for the reduction in downforce and power

40% less DF reduces grip, greatly increasing braking periods at 350 kW regeneration and regen energy per lap

minimizing drag on straights sounds good - but they'll still want to use all the K motoring they have the energy for

[Zynerji]

Transformers! Robots in disguise!

Now we just need them Energon cubes, and we're all set!

[organic]

40% less DF reduces grip and lengthens braking periods at 350 kW regeneration - greatly increasing regen energy per lap

minimizing drag on straights sounds good - but they'll still want to use all the K motoring they have the energy for

With longer braking zones it will also be better for racing. More chance of a move on the brakes

[BlueCheetah66]

Very exciting changes proposed. Apart from the underwhelming weight loss everything seems like it is good progress. Not particularly a fan of bringing in yet another gimmick to artificially change racing so I hope that the rest of the changes are sufficient in getting racing to where its wanted without the need for that.

[chrisc90]

Very exciting changes proposed. Apart from the underwhelming weight loss everything seems like it is good progress. Not particularly a fan of bringing in yet another gimmick to artificially change racing so I hope that the rest of the changes are sufficient in getting racing to where its wanted without the need for that.

- 50kg lighter cars is the aim, with Pat Symonds believing at least 20kg reduction is realistic

- With the cost cap, it is possible that the minimum weight requirement will be abandoned

Guess it would soon become who can build the lightest possible car.

Didn't some teams oppose a weight reduction for 2023? Presumingly they wouldn't be able to meet it and were very worried others could.

[scuderiabrandon]

Very exciting changes proposed. Apart from the underwhelming weight loss everything seems like it is good progress. Not particularly a fan of bringing in yet another gimmick to artificially change racing so I hope that the rest of the changes are sufficient in getting racing to where its wanted without the need for that.

- 50kg lighter cars is the aim, with Pat Symonds believing at least 20kg reduction is realistic

- With the cost cap, it is possible that the minimum weight requirement will be abandoned

Guess it would soon become who can build the lightest possible car.

Didn't some teams oppose a weight reduction for 2023? Presumingly they wouldn't be able to meet it and were very worried others could.

The weight limit was reduced to 796kg.

Apparently the newer connstruction Pirellis were much heavier so they raised it back to 798kg

[organic]

Very exciting changes proposed. Apart from the underwhelming weight loss everything seems like it is good progress. Not particularly a fan of bringing in yet another gimmick to artificially change racing so I hope that the rest of the changes are sufficient in getting racing to where its wanted without the need for that.

- 50kg lighter cars is the aim, with Pat Symonds believing at least 20kg reduction is realistic

- With the cost cap, it is possible that the minimum weight requirement will be abandoned

Guess it would soon become who can build the lightest possible car.

Didn't some teams oppose a weight reduction for 2023? Presumingly they wouldn't be able to meet it and were very worried others could.

With the cost cap there can be little fear of cost cap and teams spending ridiculous sums on exotic materials. But the unlimited weight chasing could open some interesting scenarios and I'm all for more open regs

[Vanja #66]

- Smaller cars and smaller wings will result in 40% less downforce

Reported reduction in car size is 5% both width and length. 95% x 95% = 90% of surface area. To reach the drop of 40% wings need to be ridiculously small and still 40% sounds way too big.

Other than that, loving what I'm reading and thanks for sharing!

[AR3-GP]

My guess as to what the mystery that pat Symonds does not want to reveal is some sort of reverse drs. The closer you get to the car in front, the loss of downforce due to dirty air can be compensated for with increasing front/rear wing angle in the corners only. This would compensate the lost downforce from running closely behind in corners and not hurt on the straight if they are already using active aero on the straights.

I believe this was mentioned in the run-up to 2022 regs by Symonds or Brawn already.. but something they didn't use.

Just my expectation of what this hidden idea might be. But if this would not work please point out!

Horrid.

[AR3-GP]

We have some more concrete news of how the 2026 chassis will turn out. According to an AMuS article published today with translation available here the current plans are:

- Reduction in width from 200cm to 190cm

- Wheelbase shortened by at least 20cm, moving from 360cm to 340cm.

- Smaller cars and smaller wings will result in 40% less downforce

- 50kg lighter cars is the aim, with Pat Symonds believing at least 20kg reduction is realistic

- With the cost cap, it is possible that the minimum weight requirement will be abandoned

- Active aero will be used to minimize drag on the straights and compensate in laptime for the reduction in downforce and power

- A mystery possible silver bullet to improve overtaking can be included in the 2026 regs, but Pat Symonds does not want to reveal what it is yet

The good news is that overtaking should become easier without artificial aids. The engineers are planning a small concept change that was already discussed for the 2022 cars, but was then put on the back burner. Symonds doesn't want to reveal what it is yet. Just this much: It should be much easier to follow another car in the future.

Are these ideas concrete? This 40% reduction in downforce is significant and we know the PU manufacturers have already started long ago...

[organic]

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/f1-c ... /10528768/

Narrower wheels said to be coming according to Tombazis, and smaller wheels are on the cards too:

Nikolas Tombazis pointed out that a 50kg reduction target had been set – which would include a change to F1 wheel size.

"With the dimensions of the wheels, which will be narrower, plus with the rear wing and the car in general, we aim to reduce the weight of the cars by around 50kg," he said.

The change in tyre size for 2022 was estimated to have added an extra 14kg in weight to the cars – mostly because of the increased rim size.

A return to the 13-inch wheels that were common until 2021 is not thought to be on the cards, but a good compromise could be 16-inch wheels.

One way that the slimming down of F1 car weight could be helped a lot would be the move to smaller tyres, with it understood that the 16-inch wheels are being seriously considered.

would help with driver visibility issues with the larger wheels also

[Cs98]

Wow. This 40% loss of downforce is necessitated by the weak engine and extreme drag reduction measures. I was expecting a huge compromise, but this is even bigger than I thought. It could've been partially mitigated by weight reduction, but F1 is hopeless when it comes to weight. Aiming for 50kg but only expecting 20kg despite reducing the dimensions of the car. So we are going to end up with ~20% less power (across the whole lap), 40% less DF, less mechanical grip due to smaller dimensions, and 3% less weight. F1 might not be the fastest racing series anymore when we get to 2026. I thought 2014 was bad, but this is going to be something else.