2026 Aerodynamic & Chassis Regulations

[LHamilton]

The FIA have explained this themselves. They need the drag reduction at front and rear in order to prevent drivers from lift and coasting halfway down every straight.

The new engine formula requires significantly less drag and active aero was the way to achieve this without losing too much downforce.

My scepticism stems from the fact that I fear F1 is turning into a computer game.
Maybe I'm getting old, but switching back and forth between X and Z mode, in addition to the overtaking button, complicated rules such as the energy release of the vehicle in front decreases after 290 km/h and drops to zero at 355 km/h, while the vehicle behind benefits from an MGU-K override that delivers 350 kilowatts at up to 337 km/h with an additional thrust of 0.5 megajoules...

Honestly?
What's the point of all this?
Since when has racing got better if you have to make the cars even more complex and complicated to operate?

It's not as if other things like engine mapping, brake balance and tyre management don't need any more attention, as the loading functions have to be added!

Anyone who now complains that the drivers have to pay more attention to tyre management than to racing will, I fear, experience races in the future in which management of the MGU-K controlled from the pits leaves even less room for racing.

When it came to making the cars lighter and simpler again, I wasn't talking about what is now being presented.

I fully agree and can't wait to gloat when we're right

This new era will be a disaster

I too is a bit lukewarm in regards to these rules. It feels like some of the aerodynamics are compromises for a bad engine. And that would be the active aerodynaimcs that Im sceptical about. And in regards to the active aerodynamics, I feel that it has the potential of being super powerful, when its working. If you have some kind of a problem, maybe a light touch to knock the active aero off in some way, perhaps even making enough damage to the frontwing that you are uncapable of using it, then you are essentially going to have to pit and --- yourself in the process. Because without it you would surely lose to much time.

I feel like with more things to do, more complexities, there are also more things to go wrong. Wonderful it might be if it works correctly, all the time. But if anything goes wrong, there is a big chance that you lose a lot of laptime because of it.

In an ideal scenario, it looks good, perhaps. We have closer racing, we have many buttons and tricks to use for strategy purposes. But... thats the ideal scenario. We have seen that DRS was a failure. At least in my opinion. It rarely worked as intended. Either you flew by at the speed of light, or you were incapable of passning. In fact, I would even argue that DRS trains are worse than trains without DRS. Because you have less drag to punch a hole into, negating the slipstream effect. But also you arrive at the corner faster, making you have less time to make the actual overtake.

I feel like these regs were compromised by the engine and the fact that f1 wanted more engine manufacturers. Getting more engine manufacturers in itself is obviously fantastic. But it feels like a shoddy engine to comply with engine manufacturers and their desire for transition into road technology has made it so that other compromised aerodynamics were needed to not fully botch the new regs. So in totality it feels like a mismatch of compontents to make it feel like 'meh'.

Obviously I have to take more time into looking at it, since its all fresh for everyone and not everything has been revealed totally. But my inital impression is lukewarm.

[Sofa King]

It’s all in the name of “sustainability”

I have massive doubts that active aerodynamics makes any sense.
There is no DRS, instead there is a push-to-pass button. Okay.
But why the heck should the wings be movable now if every driver can do it on every lap on certain sections of the track anyway?
Why not just leave it at that and save unnecessary weight and error-prone technology?

I think that's a wrong approach.

The FIA have explained this themselves. They need the drag reduction at front and rear in order to prevent drivers from lift and coasting halfway down every straight.

The new engine formula requires significantly less drag and active aero was the way to achieve this without losing too much downforce.

My scepticism stems from the fact that I fear F1 is turning into a computer game.
Maybe I'm getting old, but switching back and forth between X and Z mode, in addition to the overtaking button, complicated rules such as the energy release of the vehicle in front decreases after 290 km/h and drops to zero at 355 km/h, while the vehicle behind benefits from an MGU-K override that delivers 350 kilowatts at up to 337 km/h with an additional thrust of 0.5 megajoules...

Honestly?
What's the point of all this?
Since when has racing got better if you have to make the cars even more complex and complicated to operate?

It's not as if other things like engine mapping, brake balance and tyre management don't need any more attention, as the loading functions have to be added!

Anyone who now complains that the drivers have to pay more attention to tyre management than to racing will, I fear, experience races in the future in which management of the MGU-K controlled from the pits leaves even less room for racing.

When it came to making the cars lighter and simpler again, I wasn't talking about what is now being presented.

[Seanspeed]

We have seen that DRS was a failure. At least in my opinion. It rarely worked as intended. Either you flew by at the speed of light, or you were incapable of passning.

DRS worked amazingly well. But then the FIA got a little drunk with the thought of how much overtaking they could create if they just put DRS zones absolutely everywhere! Two zones per track! Now, how about THREE zones per track! Let's put DRS zones even on long straights where overtaking was possible without DRS! Everybody gets a DRS zone!

So little effort was spent on ensuring that DRS was used when and where appropriate. Balanced well, DRS was fantastic and did everything it needed to do. Yes, there were blowby passes, but when the driver before was gonna be able to pass no matter what, then yes, DRS will just make it even easier, but the fact that it enabled overtaking opportunities where it would have previously been impossible or super difficult was a big win.

[yooogurt]

[browney]

It seems like a big departure from the current concept. There was a lot of research done into the current concept, have they discovered it was the wrong direction?

[Luscion]

[mzso]

The new engine formula requires significantly less drag and active aero was the way to achieve this without losing too much downforce.

A way. They could have went with no wings and ground effect from front to back. No added complexity, and losing weight instead ef gaining. Maybe a movable trailing edge or something similar, if they really feel like it.

[LionsHeart]

I won't discuss the engine yet, since I haven't fully understood a number of aspects of how everything will be implemented technically. What will be the actual battery capacity? 4 MJ or more? What is the fuel tank capacity? How will the maximum fuel consumption be limited? In general, there are a lot of questions.

So for now I'll move on to the chassis. The changes are generally correct and literate. Reducing the ground effect to get a softer suspension is the right step. It will be more pleasant for drivers, and the neck vertebrae and back will hurt less. The tires will be narrower, which will reduce traction when exiting corners. I still hoped that the tires would be the same width as in 2011-2016. This will also help reduce drag on straights a little. My favorite front wings are making a comeback. How I love this design. Only behind the end plate there is a very wide pile on the sides. And finally they thought of using three profiles on the rear wing. This should reduce drag and the risk of flow stall. It is also written that the floor will be flat? So this floor will be similar to F2 or IndyCar? It seems like a ground effect, but not as wild as it is now.

It is also curious how the active aerodynamics in the front wing will be implemented. If there is a breakdown in the front part, then when replacing it at a pit stop, how will it work? Based on hydraulics, pneumatics or a servo drive? I do not know how this was implemented in 2010, so I would like to clarify here. But in general, the development is correct. Reducing the frontal resistance on both axles on straight sections is more balanced and effective. Another thing, if, for example, the one behind uses reduced frontal resistance as the one in front, how much will it be necessary to discharge the battery to catch up and overtake? And then? Will it turn out that the charge level will be critical and now it will not be possible to defend the position on the next lap? A lot of changes and a lot of questions. By the way. And will this active aerodynamics change the position of the driver himself or automatically, based on the GPS position on the track, which will be adjusted programmatically?

[Xyz22]

The active aero is really a disaster on paper.

[Zynerji]

The active aero is really a disaster on paper.

The 2026 regulations could have been so simple to get right, but where is the fun in that?

[organic]

https://twitter.com/dr_obbs/status/1798779146966872281

Dr_obbs:

I need to correct one element in here that I mis understood initially. The driver does initiate the x mode with a push button, but then the control system opens the flaps, but then automatically closes it at the end of the straight. There is driver initiation for open, but no driver control for close. That is the concern. What happens if something fails and it won’t close? What is the safety override? There currently isn’t one.

Sorry for the confusion.

[JordanMugen]

I have massive doubts that active aerodynamics makes any sense.

The cars will be really slow on the straights otherwise as there will be much less power than now. That's where the "sense" is -- to improve lap time.

Maybe it would be safer if the cars were slower on the straights, as they will "look" the same speed in the corners, which is what matters to looking faster?

Who cares if they are 10s/lap slower instead of 6s/lap slower, as long as they are fast and dynamic like Super Formula Japan when cornering?

Edit -- Silly me, if there is no active aero then teams will take wing level off to seek a different compromise, so they will be slow in corners and straight if there was no active aero.

I don't think there is a problem with using the technology of the 1992 Mitsubishi GTO! Though it is a shame the idea of continuously variable wing level (controlled by software to optimise each corner) was abandoned IMO -- that would put a priority on software tuning of aero.

Still, my guess is that the 2026 season will be a disaster

Time will tell! FIA sets the engineering brief (the 2026 rules are very much "a camel is a horse designed by committee" it seems, a kind of compromise design, bits of venturi, bits of flat floor etc) and it is up to the teams to solve the brief!

[TeamKoolGreen]

Does anyone know to the extent that the 2026 regs will be moving away from the venturi floor architecture ? On a percent estimate ?

I had no idea that they were going to do that at all. What a step backwards. Venturi floors worked great at the start of 2022. And the concept just needed refinement.

If you think the air was getting too dirty now , just wait till we have less venturi floor and smaller deffuser. It will just be worse.

The venturi probably had to be smaller to reduce drag. It all comes back to this stupid 50/50 electric nonsense. Why not just bump the ICE power up 20% and call it 50/50 ? It's just a marketing slogan. Nobody would know different.

[TeamKoolGreen]

The power units will weigh 30 kg more. Where is this 60 kg reduction going to come from ? The lower weight limit will just be put in the rules and nobody will be able to hit it.

[Just_a_fan]

The power units will weigh 30 kg more. Where is this 60 kg reduction going to come from ? The lower weight limit will just be put in the rules and nobody will be able to hit it.

https://i.postimg.cc/XqG3gVd7/f126.jpg

The new rules also strip out stuff from the engine such as variable inlet trumpets and actuators. No idea how much that sort of stuff weighs.