2026 Aerodynamic & Chassis Regulations

[FW17]

They will be very fast at accelerating - that's where the maximum ERS deployment will be used the most.



It will be like the LMP1s from the 2010s. Though, perhaps, without the speed plateauing very early on the straight.

Like the porsche 919 evo

What a machine. You could hear that bad boy clear as day when it fully deployed

Look at the deployment strategy by Porsche engineers. It would be similar to F1 race, battery need not be fully charged, Electrical energy regenerated and used at every instance.

[bananapeel23]

They will just be really slow under acceleration, like laughably slow, but that is a large part of why they will produce good racing.

That's not actually good for overtaking. It means a stronger concertina effect that means it'll be farther down the straight before the car behind starts going faster than the car ahead, meaning there's a shorter distance to actually get alongside.

I think we'll be clamoring for DRS back again before too long. DRS got a bad rap, but it was so often poorly balanced in terms of how much of it was allowed on a given track, and was especially bad when it was given to cars on back-to-back longer straights.

Stronger concertina, but more time on the straight and the ability to deploy a ton of ERS for the following car, leading to similar speed deltas, but at the cost of losing a bunch of deployment on the following lap, allowing reovertaking.

[bananapeel23]

They will just be really slow under acceleration, like laughably slow, but that is a large part of why they will produce good racing.

They will be very fast at accelerating - that's where the maximum ERS deployment will be used the most.

It will be like the LMP1s from the 2010s. Though, perhaps, without the speed plateauing very early on the straight.

I don't think they will be able to deploy the full 350KW in traction zones. They will still be slower under acceleration, even if that is where they will lose the least (apart from the end of straight due to the loss of drag).

[bananapeel23]

Tell me we will be able to avoid this sort of monstrosity?

https://ibb.co/3pc22Dg

Monstrosity?

It's beautiful and functional! The bargeboards were an engineering marvel.

[Holm86]

Like the porsche 919 evo

What a machine. You could hear that bad boy clear as day when it fully deployed

Look at the deployment strategy by Porsche engineers. It would be similar to F1 race, battery need not be fully charged, Electrical energy regenerated and used at every instance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQmSUHhP3ug

They're not gonna be anyway near the 919 Evo.
The maximum harvest per lap is 8.5 MJ, thats 24 seconds of full power per lap.
And the maximum charge of the ES at any given moment is 4 MJ, meaning that you can only run full power for a maximum 11.5 seconds at the time.

I doub't these engines will run at full power very often. And full power from the new 2026 engines will be around 750kw = 1006 hp, at a maximum. The 919 Evo had a combined HP output of 1160hp

[organic]

Looks like diffuser strakes have been allowed with issue 10 of the rules, along with increased freedom with dimensions of diffuser sidewalls



Also from Qvist_Designs


Feels like the aerodynamics of the new ruleset are going more complicated again after the relative simplicity of 2022-

[Seanspeed]

They will just be really slow under acceleration, like laughably slow, but that is a large part of why they will produce good racing.

That's not actually good for overtaking. It means a stronger concertina effect that means it'll be farther down the straight before the car behind starts going faster than the car ahead, meaning there's a shorter distance to actually get alongside.

I think we'll be clamoring for DRS back again before too long. DRS got a bad rap, but it was so often poorly balanced in terms of how much of it was allowed on a given track, and was especially bad when it was given to cars on back-to-back longer straights.

Stronger concertina, but more time on the straight and the ability to deploy a ton of ERS for the following car, leading to similar speed deltas, but at the cost of losing a bunch of deployment on the following lap, allowing reovertaking.

Less time on the straight given the general lower drag nature of these newer cars, actually. This will actually make it worse.

Slower initial acceleration, but once they do get up to speed, that low drag aspect is gonna shorten the distance from that point on to the braking point. It's literally going to exacerbate the concertina effect in terms of making it super hard for the following car to get a chance. Especially out of any slower corners.

[Vappy]

Looks like diffuser strakes have been allowed with issue 10 of the rules, along with increased freedom with dimensions of diffuser sidewalls



Also from Qvist_Designs
https://i.imgur.com/Znxpghb.jpeg

Feels like the aerodynamics of the new ruleset are going more complicated again after the relative simplicity of 2022-

Looking at that floor and diffuser, I suspect teams will want to put the rear ride height up nice and high like in previous generations to create an effectively larger diffuser?

[FW17]

What a machine. You could hear that bad boy clear as day when it fully deployed

Look at the deployment strategy by Porsche engineers. It would be similar to F1 race, battery need not be fully charged, Electrical energy regenerated and used at every instance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQmSUHhP3ug

They're not gonna be anyway near the 919 Evo.
The maximum harvest per lap is 8.5 MJ, thats 24 seconds of full power per lap.
And the maximum charge of the ES at any given moment is 4 MJ, meaning that you can only run full power for a maximum 11.5 seconds at the time.

I doub't these engines will run at full power very often. And full power from the new 2026 engines will be around 750kw = 1006 hp, at a maximum. The 919 Evo had a combined HP output of 1160hp

Engines have not been developed since 2021, Max power from engine could be around 450 KW

4MJ limit is the maximum allowed discharge at a time, They can recharge and deploy multiple time during the lap.

[FW17]

Also from Qvist_Designs


Feels like the aerodynamics of the new ruleset are going more complicated again after the relative simplicity of 2022-

Why is the gearbox represented like this? wouldn't they follow current size of if not even slimmer?


If the idea of the rule set is to have airflow straight or inwash at the entrance of the floor near the cockpit, why is the floor plank step curved like in the current rule set?

[DDopey]

So with all this more complicated aero, will that create more air disturbance ? And if then also power deployment becomes an issue, will there be any overtaking at all ?