2026 Cadillac F1 car development

[thedutchguy]

Hope it's ok to start a new thread about this.

Cadillac has just release the first video in a behind the scenes series about the development of their 2026 car. The confidential stuff is obviously blurred, but I foud it quite interesting none the less.

[Greg Locock]

It certainly got off on the wrong foot, boasting about this is an American team, in reality they are using personnel from all over the world, Renault IP, Ferrari engines, their partner is based in the UK. There's nothing wrong with that, it is how the car industry works but patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.

Then it sort of devolved into a flood of sound-bites. I gave up.

I suppose if you've never been to a product development office it might give you a better picture of how cars are designed, but it seemed a bit content light.

[Blackout]

What is the Renault IP?
A nice picture of these engineering marvels/nightmares, with colors and designations (caliper/disk/rotor inlets & outlets etc...)

[vorticism]

Front brake ducts in CAD there. Why the regs want the brake ducts of all things to be such a dev cost sink is a mystery to me. Were they not simpler pre-cake-tin?

It certainly got off on the wrong foot, boasting about this is an American team, in reality they are using personnel from all over the world, Renault IP, Ferrari engines, their partner is based in the UK. There's nothing wrong with that, it is how the car industry works but patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.

Then it sort of devolved into a flood of sound-bites. I gave up.

I suppose if you've never been to a product development office it might give you a better picture of how cars are designed, but it seemed a bit content light.

Potential further scoundrelousness when you consider that the A-word is now divorced from historical meaning, surviving mainly as a clerical term for running credit checks and filing for benefits.

The AI slop title card ("make it look wireframe") should have been your first warning.

[Blackout]

Remember, they banned venting the air to the outer face of the wheel and blowing it for aero purposes #outwash.

[vorticism]

+1 True, it was about the outwash. If they had outlawed blown hubs I think that would have taken care of most of it while avoiding complexity of inboard outflow. Compare for example post-22 front duct inlet size vs. the blown hub inlets. Twice the area? Or more. So they could have halved the outboard outflow.

If inwash is the preference they could have kept the 'blown' hubs, reversed flow through them and put a scoop off the spindle and an exit in the current location, somewhere on the inboard face of the wheel upright covers. That would be even more inwash than the current in-line flow philosophy.

[Farnborough]

Reasonable overview, delivered without false drama !



There's some information in there about just what they are buying from Ferrari to incorporate within their build.

Notable is just the gearbox "cassette" which I understand is gear train from clutch, through ratios, then elevated to final drive differential location above the bulk of components.

Meaning, the case and rear suspension we usually see on the outside is pure Cadillac team produced.

[zioture]

The Cadillac 2026 concept highlights an interesting contradiction in the new regulations. While the FIA’s stated goal is to “kill vortices” to reduce wake turbulence, the aerodynamic tools left available almost force teams to recreate useful vortices elsewhere.



The reappearance of a nose cape is a good example. With:

a flat floor,

simplified front wings,

and reduced reliance on ground effect,

engineers still need mechanisms to stabilize flow and manage pressure gradients. A cape under the nose can act as a secondary aerodynamic surface, generating downforce and helping to control how air is delivered to the underfloor.

This point is explored in more detail in a technical analysis of the Cadillac concept here:
https://www.newsf1.it/f1-2026-cape-cadi ... -analysis/

What will be especially interesting is how such devices interact with active aero modes (X/Z modes). Maintaining balance and consistency across configurations could become one of the defining technical challenges of the 2026 cars.

Overall, this suggests the 2026 ruleset may lead to cleaner-looking cars, but not necessarily simpler aerodynamics—the complexity is just shifting location.

[Unzinn]

The Cadillac 2026 concept highlights an interesting contradiction in the new regulations. While the FIA’s stated goal is to “kill vortices” to reduce wake turbulence, the aerodynamic tools left available almost force teams to recreate useful vortices elsewhere.

https://www.newsf1.it/wp-content/upload ... g-Cape.jpg

The reappearance of a nose cape is a good example. With:

a flat floor,

simplified front wings,

and reduced reliance on ground effect,

engineers still need mechanisms to stabilize flow and manage pressure gradients. A cape under the nose can act as a secondary aerodynamic surface, generating downforce and helping to control how air is delivered to the underfloor.

This point is explored in more detail in a technical analysis of the Cadillac concept here:
https://www.newsf1.it/f1-2026-cape-cadi ... -analysis/

What will be especially interesting is how such devices interact with active aero modes (X/Z modes). Maintaining balance and consistency across configurations could become one of the defining technical challenges of the 2026 cars.

Overall, this suggests the 2026 ruleset may lead to cleaner-looking cars, but not necessarily simpler aerodynamics—the complexity is just shifting location.

I think this article is reading in to something that simply isn't there, if you look at other images from the video this image comes from, it looks more like what is interpreted as a cape or fin, is just the tip cover of the nose cone. They have not put the covers back on and just left it like this for storage.

[Nickel]

The Cadillac 2026 concept highlights an interesting contradiction in the new regulations. While the FIA’s stated goal is to “kill vortices” to reduce wake turbulence, the aerodynamic tools left available almost force teams to recreate useful vortices elsewhere.

https://www.newsf1.it/wp-content/upload ... g-Cape.jpg

The reappearance of a nose cape is a good example. With:

a flat floor,

simplified front wings,

and reduced reliance on ground effect,

engineers still need mechanisms to stabilize flow and manage pressure gradients. A cape under the nose can act as a secondary aerodynamic surface, generating downforce and helping to control how air is delivered to the underfloor.

This point is explored in more detail in a technical analysis of the Cadillac concept here:
https://www.newsf1.it/f1-2026-cape-cadi ... -analysis/

What will be especially interesting is how such devices interact with active aero modes (X/Z modes). Maintaining balance and consistency across configurations could become one of the defining technical challenges of the 2026 cars.

Overall, this suggests the 2026 ruleset may lead to cleaner-looking cars, but not necessarily simpler aerodynamics—the complexity is just shifting location.

You're not the first person I've heard talk of "balance and consistency across configurations" but I don't see it. To what end? Why would the teams be overly bothered what happens to CoP when in low drag mode? As far as we know, it won't be available in anything resembling a corner.

Now, efficiency of flow attachment when switching modes will be important but beyond that I just don't see it. Maybe I'm missing something though.

[timbo]

I think this article is reading in to something that simply isn't there, if you look at other images from the video this image comes from, it looks more like what is interpreted as a cape or fin, is just the tip cover of the nose cone. They have not put the covers back on and just left it like this for storage.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/G7onc9-W8AA ... name=small

Yep, my thoughts too

[dren]

One off livery for testing: